Croatian EU Negotiations Depend On Slovenia

At this point, there is pressure from 26 out of 27 EU members for five chapters to be opened at the upcoming conference.

Croatia might open five and close two chapters at the upcoming International Accession Conference, which is scheduled for next week, October 30, if Slovenia concedes by then, diplomatic sources reveal on Wednesday.

At this point, there is pressure from 26 out of 27 EU members for Croatia to open five chapters at the upcoming EU accession conference – Freedom of capital movement, Taxes, Regional policy and co-ordination of structure instruments, Freedom, rights and security and Environment – and to close two chapters – Foreign affairs and Trans-European networks.

Departing Slovene Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitrij Rupel said some ten days ago in Luxembourg that the Croatian party must omit from its negotiating stance with the European Union anything which prejudices a border in any form, in order for Slovenia to give the green light for the opening and closing of chapters at the end of this month.

Croatia claims it does not prejudice the disputable border in any document

According to Rupel, Croatian negotiation stance for two to three chapters include maps, which contain exaggerated solution. One of the documents mentions the ZERP (Protected Ecological Fishery Zone) which is not effective for the EU.

Croatia claims that it does not prejudice the disputable issues on the border with Slovenia in any of the documents submitted to EU bodies and repeats that open issues need to be solved before international justice bodies, in accordance with the agreement between the two governments. The European Commission has the same view, which believes that these are bilateral issues which do not belong in accession negotiations.

Croatia has so far opened 21 chapters and closed 3. By the end of year, apart from the accession conference in October, another conference is scheduled for December. If all EU members agree, Croatia is expected to open some 30 chapters by the end of year and close several more.