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BloombergCroatia is seeking to become the next country to join the EU and has wrapped up negotiations or is close to completion in 31 out of 33 areas before it can sign the accession treaty with the bloc. Existing member states must then approve membership, a process than can take as long as a year.
Barroso said on Oct. 25 that while the country has a “chance” at entering in 2012, delays in overhauling the judiciary and competition policies could delay the end of talks to the end of next year, meaning Croatia probably wouldn’t become the 28th member of the EU until 2013.
Pusic, who heads the opposition Croatian People’s Party, said the country’s efforts to modernize the judiciary had taken a “huge step forward” with passage of a law on July 9 that will require members of the state judicial board be elected in a secret ballot among the judges, and not by a parliamentary majority as before. The first ballot should be held on Jan. 20. “This doesn’t mean that overnight we will have an independent judiciary, but now we have a foundation to build on,” Pusic said. The board is an 11-member body that nominates and oversees judges serving in courts across the Adriatic coast country.
Croatian Premier Jadranka Kosor has made the fight against corruption a centrepiece of her government and at least 20 officials from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union are under investigation or are being prosecuted for crimes related to corruption and abuse of power since August.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-27/croatia-can-wrap-up-eu-talks-next-year-enter-bloc-in-2012-ministry-says.html
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