Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 16 December 2014 - Strasbourg

Participation of Croatia in the European Economic Area (A8-0026/2014 - Alexander Graf Lambsdorff)

  Doru-Claudian Frunzulică (S&D), in writing. — Croatian accession to the EEA acknowledges the far-reaching political, economic and institutional reforms, the efforts to comply with EU directives and the substantial progress that Croatia achieved before the crisis.

It will have many positive impacts for the country: it will strengthen contacts and cooperation between Croatia and the partners of the EEA; it will enhance the competitiveness of the countryʼs economy. Croatia will be able to contribute to and influence the formation of relevant EEA policies and legislation at an early stage as part of a formal decision-shaping process.

Among other things, Croatia will become the 16th beneficiary country of the existing EEA grants scheme. This will help Croatia in reducing the negative effects of the global financial crisis such as negative economic growth, unemployment rising by over 14% and youth unemployment by up to 40%.

Croatiaʼs accession increases the EU area of political stability, expands the EUʼs internal market, extends EU standards and creates new opportunities for EU industries, entrepreneurs and customers. I welcome this new membership since I strongly believe that the European Union as a whole will benefit from it.