
Croatia applied for European Union membership in 2003, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate in early 2004. Candidate country status was granted to Croatia by the European Council (the EU's heads of government) in mid-2004. The entry negotiations, while originally set for March 2005, began in October that year, also launching the screening process. Croatia is expected to finally join in 2010 or 2011.
After Slovenia, Croatia has recovered best from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and so hopes to become the second former Yugoslav state to become a member. It has a stable market economy and it is ahead of EU member states Bulgaria and Romania in some economic indicators such as GDP per capita.
Croatia's membership bid has been made possible due to the reinforcement of the country's institutions, electoral reform, increases in funding for the country's Constitutional Court and Ombudsman, and improvements in minority rights and the return and integration of refugees, which facilitated the closure of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Croatian Mission in late 2007.
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