The National Committee overseeing Croatia's European Union accession negotiations on Thursday discussed the Institutions policy chapter, which determines that Croatia will have 12 seats in the European Parliament, one in the European Commission and seven in the Council of the EU, and that Croatian will be an official EU language, Committee chair Vesna Pusic said.
The National Committee finds that acceptable, she told the press.
Institutions and Other Issues are the only two chapters which are not negotiated, as they contain no legal standards that should be incorporated into national legislation.
With the signing of the accession treaty, the 12 Croatian MEPs will have observer status without the right to vote. They will become regular MEPs once the treaty is ratified and goes into force.
Pusic said Croatian would become the EU's 24th official language.
Croatia will also have one judge in the European Court of Justice, one in the General Court, and one in the European Court of Auditors.
Croatia's central bank governor will represent it in the European Central Bank, becoming a member of its Governing Council upon accession to the eurozone.
Croatia will also be represented in the European Investment Bank.
Moreover, Croatia will have nine members in the Economic and Social Committee and nine in the Committee of the Regions.
Negotiations on the Institutions chapter are expected to be closed at an accession conference scheduled for November 5, alongside the chapters Free Movement of Capital and Transport Policy.
After that, 10 negotiation chapters remain to be closed.
