„Kukuriku“ Oder „Nicht Ohne Meine Nachbarn“: Kroatien Im Endspurt Zum EU-Beitritt
“Kukuriku” Or “Not Without My Neighbors”: Croatia On The Final Rush To EU Accession

Summary/Abstract: After having signed the Accession Treaty with the European Union on 9 December 2011, Croatia is going to enter the EU in July 2013. Until then, the new government, the so called “Kukuriku Coalition” lead by Zoran Milanović (SDP) and Vesna Pusić (HNS), elected in December 2011, has to do a lot of homework. The relations to the Post-Yugoslav neighbors turn out to be crucial, as open bilateral questions can hamper the EU enlargement process seriously. This article critically analyses, whether the newly elected government in its first year managed to break with old patterns of Croatian foreign policy and implement a “new”, consistent “European” foreign and good-neighborhood policy. It argues that the “Kukuriku” government showed a new foreign policy style of patience, conviction and pragmatism, thus managing to keep on the European course and the neighborly relations vivid – despite serious external irritations and internal skepticism towards neighbors and the EU. Nevertheless, the fact that Croatia will enter into the European Union with a package of open questions concerning the neighbors will bother the EU and challenge Croatia in the medium and long term.

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