The EC last Friday sent to the Council of the EU a draft joint negotiating position on that policy area and the Council of the EU working group in charge of enlargement has already started discussing it.

A source in the Hungarian EU Presidency has said that for the time being it could not be said if the Council would manage to adopt a joint negotiating position already this month, after which a policy area is formally closed, but that the accession conference would be called as soon as it happened.

Croatia has managed to negotiate in the talks on the policy area Fisheries the continuation of the use of traditional fishing tools, except for the coastal trawl net and the seine net for pilchards.

It has been agreed that Slovenian fishermen will be able to fish along the western coast of the Adriatic Sea from Istria to Vrsar, and that Croatian fishermen would, in turn, be able to fish in Slovenian waters.

The EU is expected to call on Croatia to respect its decision not to apply its Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone to EU member-countries until an agreement is reached on the matter.

The EU's common fisheries policy refers to the common management of fish stocks, fleet management, regulations on inspections and controls, market, grants, and international treaties.

The common fisheries policy is entirely within the EC's jurisdiction. Based on scientific data, total allowed and sustainable quotas are determined, after which they are divided among member-countries in line with two criteria - historical fishing rights and fleet capacity.