Opposition spokesman George Vella said he had seconded the Croatia motion to clearly underline that the opposition backed the will of the Croatian people to join the EU.

The opposition spokesman pointed out that the European Union Act required that after having received the report of the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the House should adopt the report without debate. He said there should be an amendment in this regard because as current legislation stood, there should have been no debate. He declared, however, he would be the last one to oppose such a debate.

Croatia was the first republic to declare its independence from the former Yugoslavia. It was a country on the mend and the EU certificates proved that it was improving.

It had to improve its economic situation. It had a high rate of foreign debt (around 90 per cent of the GDP). However, with the EU acknowledging improvements in this regard, it was evident that there were mechanisms addressing the matter.

Dr Vella said Croatia had a high human development status notwithstanding the recent war they had undergone and also had a democratic parliament. The European Union Audit Office positively noted the developments that had occurred between 2004, when Croatia was declared as a candidate country, and 2011 when negotiations came to a close. This office had stated that Croatia had managed to use the EU funds properly.

Croatia also obtained credibility and benefitted from good governance due to changes aimed at accession. Credibility was not immediate but gradual, he said. However, there were still things which had to be rectified. Dr Vella said that Croatia still had to solve the problem with the dockyards and bring its economy in line with EU standards,

Croatia still had high unemployment rate and a huge deficit. Moreover, their legal framework still had to be adapted for the influx of Community legislation. Similarly, corruption and criminality still had to be curtailed.

Referring to the Croatian democratic process, Dr Vella said that 66 per cent of the voter turnout of 43 per cent had voted in favour of accession. Since the 1990 elections in Croatia, voter turn-out had always decreased. Dr Vella said that all political parties and also the Catholic Church in Croatia was in favour of membership.

Dr Vella said he augured Croatia’s membership would encourage other Balkan States to become candidate states. Croatia’s accession should be an example to these states and should more cooperation in the region, he said. Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Romania do not recognise Kosovo.

The former Yugoslavia could not become an EU member state due to Greece claiming that Macedonia was a Greek provincial.

Dr Vella said the House praises the Croatian government for the progress it had achieved in recent years. Malta would definitely help strengthen Croatia’s role in the EU. It was positive that the Croatian ambassador had expressed his gratitude for Malta in helping his country with preparations to become an EU member state.

He hoped that this accession would lead to more unification of the Balkan states.