If the Croatian Parliament approves the new Law on Extrajudicial Procedure in the form in which it was proposed, Croatia, along with Romania, will have the most liberal provisions on divorce in the EU, writes Jutarnji list on Sunday.

Couples without children will be able to divorce by agreement at a notary public based on their own declaration that they want to divorce and that they have no open questions about property or maintenance, without the mandatory presentation of any written agreement on the settlement of key matters and without the presence of a lawyer.

According to the available data, Croatia will thus become the eighth EU country - along with Slovenia, Spain, France, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania - that allows a consensual divorce to be settled outside the court, but other countries (except Romania) prescribe other mandatory conditions. All of them ask that married couples before coming to the notary to have a contract on mutual divorce in which they have agreed on all important issues, and some of them also ask that both spouses be accompanied by a lawyer during the divorce at the notary who will protect the interests of each party.