Arriving in Luxembourg on Monday for an European Union ministerial meeting, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said his country had no reservations about the opening of the Competition Policy chapter within Croatia's EU accession negotiations and that it would set no conditions for the opening of negotiations in the three remaining policy areas.
"Concerning the Competition Policy chapter, there are no outstanding issues. The issue of the Ljubljanska Banka is not linked with the Competition Policy," the Slovenian official said.
Zbogar believes that the opening of the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights chapter will probably be opened at the next intergovernmental accession conference.
The assessment of the Hague-based UN tribunal's chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz on Croatia's cooperation with the tribunal is similar to his assessments of a few months ago, Zbogar said.
Brammertz seems not fully satisfied with Croatia's cooperation, in particular with the matter of so-called artillery logs, but the decision (on opening the judiciary chapter) resets with the EU member states and the Commission, and it will probably be opened, according to Zbogar.
He said that the Slovenian government would this week initiate parliamentary procedure for lifting reservations on the opening of negotiations on the Foreign, Security and Defence Policy chapter.
"The parliament will take time it needs, but I hope that the procedure will be completed by the end of this month," the Slovenian minister said.
Brammertz will join EU foreign ministers for a lunch today to update them on cooperation of former Yugoslav countries with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Asked whether he expected headway in negotiations on the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights whose opening hinges mainly on Brammertz's opinion, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said that Brammertz should first present his report.
We must first hear Mr. Brammertz, but the Spanish EU presidency is organising an intergovernmental accession conference on 30 June so as to facilitate Croatia's journey towards the European Union, Moratinos said upon his arrival in Luxembourg.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague also did not want to prejudge developments following Brammertz's report.
The EU Council's working group for enlargement and COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the EU) are expected to decide on whether or not to open the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights within Croatia's EU membership talks in the next two weeks.
