Applied for membership: February 2003
Confirmed as candidate country: June 2004
Negotiations started: October 2005
Accession talks were delayed by seven months as Croatia struggled to convince the EU it was doing its best to find war crimes suspect Gen Ante Gotovina.
Croatia is expected to be ready to join the EU by "the end of the decade" but could be held up by problems reforming EU institutions.
The EU is urging Croatia to reform its judiciary and public administration, and keep co-operating with the war crimes tribunal.
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