Croatia to join EU in 2013

The European Commission yesterday proposed that Croatia should become the 28th member state of the EU on January 1, 2013.

The news was given by the president of the European Commission, Josè Manuel Barroso in Brussels.

Saying it was “a historic day for Croatia and for the European Union”, Mr Barroso said the Commission had proposed to the EU Council of Ministers to close the last four chapters in the accession negotiations with Croatia.

The proposal is now expected to be endorsed by the 27 EU leaders during a summit in Brussels in two weeks’ time.

Croatia applied for EU membership in 2003 and has a population of 4.5 million. It will be the second part of the former republic of Yugoslavia to join the EU following Slovenia, which joined together with Malta in 2004.

Malta has supported Croatia’s accession to the EU since the start of negotiations.

Many predict that following Croatia’s accession, the EU’s door will be shut for a long number of years.