Environmental policy and EU accession in Croatia

Croatia is one of the former-communist states that were reborn as a self-determined nation-state in 1991. Croatia is expected to join EU in July 2013. As a part of the EU accession process Croatia has closed European acquis, including chapter 27 on the Environment. The dynamics of the EU's environmental policy changed with each wave of enlargement and increased effectiveness of the implementation of the environmental acquis through the membership condition - the accession conditionality. The implementation of the environmental acquis became a mandatory for the EU membership of potential member states such as Croatia. Environmental acquis for Croatia was most demanding and difficult chapter in accession negotiations with EU due to its low administrative and financial capacity and almost non-existent horizontal cooperation between organizations responsible for the environmental protection. But Croatia could recognize long-term benefits of implementing the environmental chapter and made a great effort to harmonize with the EU's environmental legislative framework