European Union leaders gave the go-ahead on Friday for Croatia to join the EU, after six years of preparations marred by slow democratic reforms in Zagreb and the EU's reluctance to expand, Reuters reported. The former Yugoslav state of 4.4 million people should be able to wrap up accession negotiations next week, they said at a summit in Brussels, but warned the Zagreb government that it has to continue to fight widespread corruption with "vigour". The recommendation marks a turnaround for Croatia, which struggled for years to convince the EU's 27 governments that its judiciary reforms would produce genuine results and prove it has recognised its role in the Balkan wars in the 1990s. However, its efforts will face more EU scrutiny, and its hopes of joining the EU in July 2013 could be jeopardised if reform slip-ups persuade some of the EU's national parliaments to delay ratifying the accession treaty. "Now it is important to ensure that Croatia's reforms are sustainable and irreversible," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. Several EU governments, led by Britain and the Netherlands, pushed for strict monitoring of Croatia during the ratification process and had insisted that the completion of talks remains open-ended. But others wanted a more clear message. Many EU politicians are hopeful that rewarding Croatia for a last-minute reform push will persuade other governments in the western Balkans that the EU is willing to accept new members if they are ready. "Croatia demonstrates that if a country meets our strict conditionality, we as the European Union respect our commitments," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told a news conference.
