Why croatia is not part of eu

With the change of government in , the first instances of solidarity gave way to rejection and violence. Some leave and never want to come back, some — although the country is not fully ready yet — use EU funds to create new artisanal businesses, such as the production of craft beers.

It's been 5 years since Croatia entered the European Union — years in which the nationalist right came back to power and Zagreb abandoned the policy of reconciliation with the countries of the region. On July 1 st , Croatia becomes the 28 th member of the EU. Austria and Hungary threatened to veto Croatia's admittance due to the ongoing influx of illegal migrants entering their countries via Croatia while Slovenia cited an ongoing border dispute as grounds for refusal.

However, following a series of bilateral discussions between representatives of Croatia and the three veto-threatening countries these issues appear to have been resolved satisfactorily. In October of Croatia was deemed to have successfully passed the evaluation process and the country's application to join the Schengen Area received the backing of the European Commission.

This was the first vital step in the joining process and the most difficult. Over the following months Croatia has put all the necessary security and travel protocols in place that were necessary for the EU to formally decide on the country's application.

In March Croatia's application to join the Schengen was formally approved by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and it is now just a matter of time before Croatia takes a seat at the Schengen table.

Whether that happens by , as Croatian delegates hope, is a matter of conjecture but the signs are extremely encouraging. Home Articles Croatia set to join Schengen Area. At that period, he said , illegal migrants had crossed Croatian territory to join wealthier EU countries. To this, he also added strengthening the 1, km-long Croatian border. However, he believes Croatia has an advantage: Bulgaria and Romania are still under the so-called Cooperation and Verification Mechanism CVM , established as a condition for their EU accession in Croatia joined the EU in without such a mechanism.

While EU grant funds are expected to provide a source of financing relief, the needs for co-financing will put pressures on the national budget when fiscal consolidation is a priority. Many countries, large and small, have made enormous progress after entering the EU. But it will come with equally large challenges. It will be difficult for a country that spends more than 40 percent of its GDP on government services to grow if the quality of these services is not among the best in the world.

It will be difficult for the Croatian economy to grow if an ever-increasing share of its public budget—close to 20 percent of GDP—goes to social security and assistance programs that are organized in a manner that is inconsistent with a modern market economy. But all these issues can be addressed, successful examples abound in Europe and Croatia has the potential to turn them around in a relatively short period of time. It lags where earlier EU entrants have done more before joining the European Union.

Judging by the present challenges of previous EU entrants, unless structural weaknesses are addressed early—before entry—they will reappear with a vengeance. The lesson from the new member states is to use EU entry as a lever for change: EU membership is an opportunity, not a guarantee.

Otherwise, it will enter the European Union weak—exacerbating its weaknesses instead of adding to its strengths. With less than a year to go, before its expected accession on July 1, , Croatia must make this time count, and turn opportunity into reality, not missed opportunity into regret. You have clicked on a link to a page that is not part of the beta version of the new worldbank. Will you take two minutes to complete a brief survey that will help us to improve our website?

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