1. European Economic and Social Committee

2. 10th Croatia – EU Joint Consultative Committee,
Information session on the ongoing commitments and the ratification process of the Croatian accession to the EU
Roman Haken
EESC Member
10th Croatia – EU Joint Consultative Committee,
Zagreb,
31 January 2012

3. Croatian accession to the EU
Congratulations for the referendum results 
We strongly support the ratification of the Accession Treaty by all the 27 EU members states
Croatian membership of the EU will contribute to enhancing stability in the Western Balkans region

4. Ratification of the Accession treaty
Croatia will benefit from its EU membership
and
the EU will also become stronger with Croatia

5. Implementation of EU acquis in Croatia
We strongly support the involvement of civil organisations/organized civil society in the development of legal provisions that will complete the process in Croatia

6. Role of the partners in the process
In order to fulfil their role, civil society organisations have to -
- be supported in strengthening their organisational and human resources capacities
- receive sufficient training
- be recognized like a respected partners for the next period of
development of Croatian state and society

7. Before and after July 2013
Rule for the Partnership between government, public authorities, regional and local representatives and social-economy partners and citizens society organizations (social partners, NGOs, other subjects from the organized civil society) will be necessary in involving CSOs to:
1) monitoring process (participation in the managing and monitoring structures)
2) evaluation

8. Next steps: Benefits from the membership – EU funds
partners have to be invited to the programming period (consultations, participation in the advisory/partnership bodies)
methodology of the participation – Partnership principle, Subsidiarity, ...
partnership at the national and regional levels
technical assistance have to be used for the support of the partners capacity, too

9. Enjoy full EU membership in July 2013 !
Thank you for your attention
Roman Haken
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