EU and Croatia proceed with accession negotiations

The third meeting of the Accession Conference with Croatia at ministerial level was held in the margins of the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 11 December. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said at a press conference that after substantive negotiations on the chapter Education and Culture, the Conference agreed that at this stage the chapter does not require further negotiation.

This brings the number of negotiating chapters provisionally opened and closed with Croatia to two. The chapter on Science and Research was provisionally opened and closed in June.

The accession negotiations between the EU and Croatia were launched in October 2005. For almost half of the chapters for which screening reports have been received, the EU has assessed Croatia sufficiently prepared to open negotiations.

The Commission recently presented draft Common Positions on three negotiating chapters, namely Economic and Monetary Policy, Enterprise and Industrial Policy and Customs Union, and they are under examination in the Council.

According to Foreign Minister Tuomioja, the Presidency hopes that a further Accession Conference will still be possible to hold before the end of this year.