"The European Parliament today voted on the Swoboda Report on Croatia, in which it supports this June 2011 as the target date to conclude accession negotiations. This wording was based on amendments tabled by EPP Group Spokesman on Croatia, Bernd Posselt MEP, in the Foreign Affairs Committee, and defended by a majority of the European Parliament against efforts of the Green Group to delete this date.

As main speaker of the EPP Group, the biggest Group in the European Parliament, Posselt underlined: "Croatia is running the last metres of EU accession negotiations." He recalled the country's long way towards European integration. "It is now more than twenty years since the building of democracy in Croatia. One year later, on 28 June 1991, there was the brutal attack of the Yugoslav People's Army on Vukovar. I was in Vukovar when this flowering small model of Europe was destroyed and thousands of people lost their homes and lives."

Posselt stated that he had accompanied Croatia along the path for a long time, and it has undergone enormous efforts. "This Report means fairness for Croatia - not privileges or discounts, but fairness. Croatia is ready for accession. We stand by the fact that criteria must be kept, but we urge for fair treatment and against artificial obstacles."

"Croatia belongs in an historical context with Slovenia and Hungary, but for certain facts, it should have been taken into the European Union at the same time, as a country of Central Europe", concluded Posselt.

For further information:
Bernd POSSELT MEP, Tel: +33-3-881-75232
Lada Jurica, EPP Group Press & Communications Service, Tel: +32-476-330383
Lasse Böhm, EPP Group Press & Communications Service, Tel: +32-484-656897

Notes to Editors:
The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 265 Members.