Croatia: Recent EU Membership Marks Stabilization After War-Torn Past

            Croatia is currently the newest member of the European Union and first new member to join the EU since 2007, joining officially only 9 months ago in July 2013.  This membership is the culmination of an extensive process that has lasted over 10 years, and in my mind marks a successful stabilization of a country that was ravaged by war less than two decades ago.  Interested by this apparent transformation, and what could be used to define Croatia as “successfully stabilized,” I did some research into the Enlargement policy of the European Commission, and the official steps toward joining the EU. 

In general, a country can apply for membership to the EU when they are deemed “ready to be an official candidate.”  This designation requires meeting certain criteria, mainly the respect of the democratic values of the EU and the ability and commitment as an individual country to promote those values.   Additional criteria involve protection of human rights minorities, a functioning market economy, and the ability to adhere to EU political and economic goals.  Once a country has met those criteria as accepted by the European Commission, it becomes a “candidate” and enters into a screening and negotiating process between ministers of the EU governments and the candidate country.   This process can vary in length and complexity, and sets necessary reforms for membership that aim to help the candidate country restructure to begin to adopt and enforce EU law.  In the case of Croatia, this process of negotiations began in 2005, and took over 8 years, and included mainly: judicial reform, resolution of a border dispute with neighbor Slovenia, proven dedication to finding and prosecuting war crimes suspects, and a crackdown on corruption.  Once the reforms required for a candidate country have been met, they are evaluated to the satisfaction of the country and the EU, and must be approved by a representative of all existing EU member states.

A map of the Balkans defining the EU membership status of each country (source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11283616)

Furthermore, there is a special process in place for the Western Balkan countries to become members of the EU, known as the stabilization and association process.  This process offers countries “potential candidacy” and helps countries interested build their capacity to adopt EU law through assistance in: trade concessions, economics and finances, reconstruction and development, and stabilization agreements of mutual rights with the EU.  As a country fulfills its commitments to these steps it moves into “candidate country” status to officially enter the EU membership process.  Currently, as seen in the map above, Bosnia is a “potential candidate” and Serbia is a “candidate country,” both on the path to EU membership, but likely not for a number of years.  

The successful, albeit lengthy, completion of these reform requirements in Croatia symbolizes a stabilization of a country that was so recently devastated by war.  Along with allowing its accession into the EU, Croatia’s enormous transformation in the past two decades now characterizes them as a country plagued mainly by the typical woes of modern countries today: an economic recession and the cost of caring for an aging population.  These issues put them in line with the seemingly mundane issues of the majority of developed European countries and the United States, and show that significant progress has been made over a short period of time in stabilizing a peaceful and thriving Croatian state.