2013 enlargement of the European Union
The country applied for EU membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004.
[6] Recent referendums Accession requirements included: judicial reform to strengthen the independence, accountability, impartiality, professionalism and efficiency of the judiciary; a crackdown on corruption and organised crime (this resulted in the conviction of former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader for taking bribes); strengthen the protection of minorities; settle outstanding refugee return issues; improve the protection of human rights.
[7] Croatia had to extradite several of its citizens to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a United Nations body, an issue that was often contentious in domestic politics.
The European Council, after its summit of 20 December 2004, set the following 17 March as the date to start entry negotiations, provided that Croatia continued to co-operate fully with the ICTY.
On 16 March 2005, the day before talks were to begin, the EU postponed the commencement of negotiations, because the ICTY prosecution assessed the Croatian efforts to capture the fugitive general Ante Gotovina (indicted by the ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but at large since 2001) as neither timely nor sufficient.
Croatia subsequently denied any discrimination, and said that Croatian legislation provided for the same treatment of all EU citizens concerning land ownership.
Croatia was required to stop subsidising its shipbuilding industry, resulting in privatisations, closures and reduced production capacity.
Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council (the EU's heads of state and/or government) in mid-2004, but the date for the beginning of entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, was put off.
[18] In September 2009 it was announced that Slovenia would remove restraints on Croatia's negotiations with the EU without prejudice to the international mediation on the border dispute.
[19] [23] Originally Croatia had been aiming for a 2007 accession date, which would have broken Slovakia's record of 2.5 years of negotiations to complete the process.
[56] In 2009 it was also reported that Iceland may be fast-tracked into the European Union,[57] and Rehn said that "the EU prefers two countries joining at the same time rather than individually.
[59][60] The accession took place at a time of economic difficulty with Croatia in a fifth year of recession with 21% unemployment, and amid the European sovereign-debt crisis.
These were: Before accession to the European Union, Croatia was categorised as an Annex II country, which meant that Croatian citizens could stay in the Schengen Area without a visa for up to 90 days in a 180-day period.
Croatian citizens were also able to stay without a visa in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania for up to 90 days in each country, as well as in the United Kingdom for up to 6 months.
On 1 July 2013, Croatian nationals became European Union citizens and acquired the right to move and reside freely in other EU member states, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
On the same day, 14 EU member states (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden) allowed Croatian nationals to work without restrictions in their country.
However, 13 other EU member states imposed transitional restrictions on Croatian nationals wishing to access their labour markets.
This went in to effect on 1 January 2023, which meant that checks on persons at internal land and sea borders between Croatia and the other countries in the Schengen area were lifted.
Checks at internal air borders, meaning airports, were lifted on 26 March 2023, given the need for this to coincide with the dates of IATA summer/winter time schedule.
[87] The Croatian government submitted their application on 13 September 2012,[88] and membership negotiations started 15 March 2013 with the aim to enlarge both the EU and the EEA on the same date, 1 July 2013.
