The European Commission is fully committed to Croatia’s accession to the EU and is working hard with the Croatian government to ensure that the accession negotiations are completed on time, said Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, today in Zagreb.
"The European Commission is fully committed to Croatia’s accession to the EU as soon as it meets the conditions," Rehn said at the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) taking place in Zagreb."The negotiations are in the final phase and we are all working hard to ensure they are completed on time," added Rehn, who delivered the "The Jacques Larosiere Lecture" at the Westin hotel in Zagreb, an event traditionally organized by the EBRD at each annual meeting. Speaking about the macroeconomic conditions in the eurozone, shaken by the global recession and the Greek debt crisis, Rehn presented data indicating that growth is expected to be one percent this year and 1.7 percent next year.
The Finnish Commissioner expects unemployment to peak this year at just over 10 percent but to decline slightly in 2011. He also announced that Greece, facing a public debt exceeding 300 billion euros, will receive the first tranche of the EU and IMF loan before May 19, which will give Athens, Rehn said, "breathing space." The EU and IMF have approved a total of 110 billion euros in aid for Greece to exit the budget crisis. According to the plan, Brussels would provide 80 billion, and the IMF 30 billion euros over the next three years, with the first tranche amounting to 20 billion euros. Rehn stated that the European Commission, having learned from the current crisis, will insist on more responsible economic governance and stronger fiscal and macroeconomic oversight of member states in the further expansion of the eurozone. As a positive example, he highlighted Estonia, which recorded a deficit of 1.7 percent and public debt of 7.2 percent in the crisis year of 2009, and which, according to Rehn, deserves to adopt the euro on January 1 of next year. (H)
