European Union foreign ministers will informally discuss the closure of Croatia's EU entry talks on Monday, but one should not expect that any decisions would be made at the session, a European diplomatic source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Croatian news agency Hina on Friday.
The final assessment should not be expected, we are not yet in that phase, said the same source who attended the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) on Thursday, at which Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele briefed EU ambassadors about the current state of Croatia's membership negotiations.
Croatia needs to close five more chapters in its EU entry talks. The Commission has already sent a draft negotiating position for the policy area No. 13 Fisheries, with the assessment that Croatia has met all the benchmarks for the closure of the said chapter.
The Commission is yet to give its assessment of whether Croatia has met all the benchmarks for the policy areas No. 23 Judiciary and Fundamental Rights and No.8 Competition Policy. The policy area No. 33 Finance and Budgetary Provisions requires a date for the EU entry, as this chapter defines financial obligations of the EU and Croatia and without a date the necessary calculations cannot be done.
Diplomatic sources said the most likely date of Croatia's entering the bloc is 1 July 2013, but the decision has not yet been formalised.
It is expected that the decision on the admission date could be formally adopted and announced at the EU summit on 23 and 24 June.
