The President of the European Commission also supported Croatian MEP’s initiative to ensure that products sold in the EU must be of the same quality in all member states.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker presented his vision of the future of the European Union on Wednesday, which is to achieve stronger cooperation in the field of banking, defence, intelligence, foreign and trade policy. He presented the vision in the traditional speech on the state of the European Union, reports Jutarnji List on September 13, 2017.
Junker also spoke about the issue which is very important to Croatia, and that is its entry into the passport-free Schengen Area. “Croatia should have full membership in Schengen once all the criteria are met,” said Juncker, after calling for an urgent opening of the Schengen Area for Romania and Bulgaria. The European Commission long ago confirmed that Bulgaria and Romania had fulfilled all the conditions, but there has been no consensus within the EU Council. All members states have to support the decision on the accession of new members to the Schengen Area.
Croatia is worried that, after it soon fulfils all the technical condition, it might be blocked due to political reason by some member states, primarily Slovenia and possibly Hungary. Last week, these two countries blocked Croatia’s entry into the OECD.
Juncker also called for the abolition of the practice having different quality of the same products in different member states. He urged all countries to respect the rule of law and the decisions of the Court of the European Union. He also said that, if Europe wanted peace in the neighbourhood, it should give credible prospect for membership to the Western Balkans. He said there would be no enlargement by the end of the term of the commission since no country will be ready for it, but that after 2019 the EU would have more than 27 member states.
He also said he would not allow some EU citizens to have lesser rights than others, and quoted as an example food products, which are better in some member states and worse in poorer countries, although sold in the same packaging.
“I am delighted because the efforts I started with Czech MEP Olga Senhalova have reached the highest level. This is a great achievement as it defines the EU’s position on this issue and indicates a strong political will to resolve it,” said Croatian Member of European Parliament (MEP) Biljana Borzan, who leads the fight against businesses practices of some major companies which sell lower quality products in eastern part of the EU.
“My job is to make the EU work for the people. All our efforts, the battle between David and Goliath, have now resulted in this strong political support. I know some of the projects have already been started by the Commission. This is an excellent news for all our citizens,” said Borzan, who will present the results of her analysis in the European Parliament on 27 September.
