Croatia hopes and strives for EU membership, but will Greek debt, euro crisis block it?

Croatia’ EU hopes may be set back by debt crisis

ZAGREB, Croatia — A national hero delivered to a war crimes court. A former minister detained for graft. Cherished national shipyards on sale. A deal struck with a neighbor despite the risk of losing territory.

Croatians feel their country has done its utmost to meet a long list of demands for entry into the European Union. But now that sense of satisfaction is tinged with concern that all those efforts have become irrelevant as EU officials, focused on Greek debt and the sinking euro, grow more wary of expansion.

“The leaders of the union today have more urgent concerns than to dream of enlargement,” Jacques Rupnik, an expert from the Paris-based International Center for Study and Research, said in recent comments to the French daily, Le Monde.

Now a picturesque Adriatic Sea vacation favorite for Europeans, Croatia has undergone a startling transformation over the past two decades. Only a few inland ruins attest to the violence that accompanied its break away from Yugoslavia. It has fought to quell nationalism, and has pursued a pro-European policy.

The rewards seemed within reach — at least until recently. Croatia is next in line to join the EU, possibly in 2012. And the other Balkan states that are eager to follow suit — Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Albania — are watching closely.

But there are fears the EU is no longer closely watching them.

“At the time of such a huge crisis in the EU, (EU nations) are focused on themselves,” said Ines Sabalic, a Brussels-based reporter for Croatia’s Slobodna Dalmacija daily. “For Croatia and other countries in the region, despite the rhetoric from EU, that means that the brakes are on.”

Officially, EU officials insist that Croatia — and others — will join the moment they clear the EU economic benchmarks set as entry criteria.

There are signs, however, of the bloc’s declining enthusiasm for admitting new members: An EU-sponsored conference scheduled in Sarajevo for early June, which had been billed as a show of welcome for the Balkan states, has been downgraded to a simple review of where their candidacies stand.

“The Commission is working hard to advance, but quality must prevail over speed,” Stefan Fule, the commissioner for enlargement, told the European Parliament last week about Croatia’s bid.

Croatian officials are publicly upbeat.

“There is no direct link between the final stage of Croatia’s EU negotiations and the Greek financial crisis,” Josko Paro, a foreign policy adviser to Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, told The Associated Press. “There has been no such suggestion from Brussels whatsoever.”

But in Serbia, which is lagging behind Croatia, Tanja Miscevic, a former head of her country’s Office in charge of EU integration, said she “wouldn’t be that optimistic.”

The current EU turmoil “will have political and financial” effects on enlargement plans, she told the Beta news agency.

Greece’s near bankruptcy has not only alarmed markets and forced EU brethren to jump in with multimillion rescue loans. It has also set off a round of soul searching within the union that could turn into an identity crisis — and a backlash against new admissions.

At worst, any delays could give fresh impetus to the once-powerful Balkan nationalism that rippled through most of the wannabe members and triggered the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s — Europe’s worst bloodshed since World War II.

For Croatia and its Balkan neighbors EU entry remains the top goal.

At stake are EU funds, which in the past have helped new members like Ireland and Portugal reduce poverty and launch economic booms. It’s about access to European market, jobs and studies. No customs, no visas. Joint defense. And, as the Greek example showed, membership can also include a very large check when things get rough — even if there are conditions attached.

And for many with in the Balkans, symbolism also matters: Belonging to EU would mean you were part of the prosperous, decent West — no longer a backward, brawling thug.

Stjepan Lausevic, a 67-year-old Croatia retiree, said keeping his country out of the EU would be just “plain rude.”

“They are busy now with Greece and euro? But we have been very busy doing all the stuff they wanted us to do!” he fumes.

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Associated Press writers George Jahn in Vienna, Elaine Ganley in Paris, and Dusan Stojanovic and Jovana Gec in Belgrade contributed to this report.