Croatia gives consent to continue process to open chapter 23

Croatia gives consent to continue process to open chapter 23

Croatia coordinated its position with that of 27 EU member states, removing an obstacle to a continuation of the process of Serbia's EU accession.

Serbia is now expected to be called to submit its negotiating position for chapters 23 and 24, after which the EU member states should once again coordinate a common EU position for the talks with Serbia on the chapters, which relate to the rule of law and human rights.

The EU expects the formal opening of the chapters to take place by the end of June.

The Croatian ambassador submitted a written consent for Chapter 23 at the beginning of the meeting, and then the ambassadors of the 28 members agreed that the conditions for the chapter had been met," said Francois Head, spokesperson in charge of economic, financial and foreign affairs of the EU Council, after the session of the Committee of Permanent Representatives.

Beta agency has quoted Croatia's Hina as reporting that this did not mean that the call to open the chapter had been made.

The news agency said Croatia had withdrawn its reservations on condition that the EU resolve the issues Croatia had notes on within its negotiating position for Chapter 23.

"The EU Council will ask Serbia to send in its negotiating position for the chapter and the Commission to begin drafting the outline common negotiating position of EU members. Only when the member countries have harmonized the wording and unanimously accepted the common negotiating position may the chapter open," Hina said it learned at the EU Council.

The news agency also reported that Croatia had given its agreement only after it was agreed to insert its demands in the negotiating process for Serbia: full cooperation with the Hague tribunal, full enforcement of domestic and international obligations in minority rights protection, including the Croatian minority in Serbia, and avoiding judicial conflicts in processing war crimes.

European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said last week that a solution and acceptable formulation had been found with Croatia for opening Chapter 23, though Zagreb initially denied this.

Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac said on May 31 that Croatia had ensured that all its demands would enter the Serbia-EU negotiating process and that he hoped that the agreement of all EU members to open Chapter 23 for Serbia would be achieved in June.

Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti reported on its website on Wednesday that in shaping the criteria for chapters 23 and 24, "Croatian demands have not been accepted under the formulations that Zagreb asked" and are instead "much milder and adapted to European practice."