France welcomes Croatia’s EU integration

he French government on Friday said it welcomes the entry of Croatia into the European Union, thus becoming the EU’s 28th member.

Croatia is due to officially join the EU on July 1 after more than eight years of difficult negotiations and the implementation of wide-reaching reforms in the Balkan country.

As one of the major countries to emerge from the former Yugoslavia, Croatia’s entry into the EU is viewed as a stabilising factor for the region that has been wracked by war since the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo are still very much alive in the Balkans.

“Croatia has now set an example and thus shows the way to other countries of the region,” the French Foreign Ministry said.