EP rapporteur urges Croatia’s EU requirements be eased

European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Croatia Hannes Swoboda on Wednesday (June 9th) urged EU officials to ease the requirements for Croatia’s accession negotiations on the judiciary and competition chapters. The opening of talks on both chapters is still pending. Swoboda was speaking to journalists in Brussels after meeting with Croatian State Secretary for European Integration Andrej Plenkovic. Regarding the judiciary, Swoboda thinks the country should be allowed to proceed with negotiations despite the fact that full co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal has not been achieved. This would allow the cabinet to demonstrate the full extent of judicial reform, Swoboda said. As for the competition chapter, he spoke of the sensitivity of the shipyards issue. He noted that in light of the economic recession, the cabinet should be given more time to restructure the industry.