Kroatië wil graag investeerders, maar is langzaam met hervormen

The barren Srdj plateau overlooking the mediaeval city of Dubrovnik is a real estate developer's dream, offering breath-taking views of Croatia's top tourist destination. That's precisely why an Israeli-Croatian consortium began planning a billion-euro golf resort there in 2006. Seven years on, construction has yet to start.

This project typifies the problems facing foreign investors in Croatia, which joins the European Union on July 1, more than 20 years after it broke away in war from socialist Yugoslavia. Worth about 1.1 billion euros ($1.44 billion), Golf Park Dubrovnik has become tied up in red tape, ever-changing municipal building plans and most recently the ire of Dubrovnik's residents.