The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER), which consists of heads or deputy heads of missions from the EU member states in Brussels, on Friday give the green light to the opening of the remaining three unopened negotiating areas within Croatia's EU membership talks, which means that the policy chapters -- "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights", "Competition Policy" and "Foreign, Security and Defence Policy" will be opened at an intergovernmental accession conference next week.
According to sources from the EU Council, COREPER adopted with no discussion the joint negotiating positions on the above-mention policy chapters. The committee also greenlighted the provisional closing of "Public Procurement" policy chapter at the conference set for 30 June.
A month ago, everything was also prepared for the closing of the policy chapter on taxation. As a result, Croatia will get three more opened policy chapters and two more provisionally closed policy chapters at the last inter-governmental accession conference during the Spanish EU presidency over the European bloc.
The decision by COREPER has formalised the political decision on "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights" made by EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 14 June who were updated by Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz on Croatia's cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
This negotiating area had been blocked some time by several EU members, primarily by the Netherlands, which deemed Croatia's cooperation with the UN tribunal to be insufficient regarding the prosecution's requests for the delivery of the so-called artillery logbooks from Operation Storm for the trial of three Croatian generals.
In the meantime, It has been agreed in the EU that cooperation with the Hague tribunal should be a benchmark for closing the Chapter No. 23.
The opening of the policy chapter No. 8 on "Competition Policy" has waited some time for the opening due to state grants to the Croatian shipyards which Brussels found to be unacceptable.
The Croatian government and the European Commission have agreed that the restructuring of the state shipyards be performed through their privatisation and inviting bids for their privatisation was a benchmark for the opening of that policy chapter.
The policy chapter No. 31 on "Foreign, Security and Defence Policy" had been blocked for long by Slovenia which removed its reservations after a border arbitration agreement, made by Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and his Croatian counterpart Jadranka Kosor, was confirmed by the Slovenians at a recent referendum.
At the end of the Spanish EU chairmanship, Croatia will have all 33 policy chapters that are subject to negotiations opened. Of them, 20 will have been provisionally closed.
Belgium, which takes over the EU presidency on 1 July, has announced another accession conference for 27 July before a summer recess.
At that conference Croatia is to close two or three more negotiating areas, and thus 10 policy chapters will remain for the closing by the end of 2010.
