Croatia still has a chance of completing its EU entry talks by the end of the year as planned, and of opening the policy chapter Judiciary and Fundamental Rights before the summer, the head of the national committee monitoring Croatia's accession talks, Vesna Pusic, said on Thursday.
"I think we have a chance," Pusic told reporters after a three-hour session of the committee, adding that various tasks had to be carried out, including political ones.
Pusic said the committee today discussed two policy chapters in Croatia's EU entry talks - Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy (policy chapter No. 12) and Transport Policy (policy chapter No. 14). The two chapters are among the 15 chapters that have not been provisionally closed yet.
Pusic said the committee expected the policy chapter Judiciary and Fundamental Rights (No. 23) to be opened by the summer. This chapter is one of the three chapters that have not been opened yet, the other two being Competition Policy and Foreign, Security and Defence Policy.
Pusic said that Croatia's chief negotiator in the accession talks with the EU, Vladimir Drobnjak, today submitted a report to the committee on the course of the talks.
Since the technical policy chapters No. 34 and 35 are not negotiated, Drobnjak believes that six chapters would be left open for the autumn, and that a total of 27 chapters could be provisionally closed by the summer, Pusic said.
As for the policy chapter No. 12, the most complex issue discussed by the committee today was the issue of food transport along the nine-kilometre long Neum corridor.
Since the corridor passes through the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina, outside the EU, live animals could be transported exclusively by ferry between Trpanj and Ploce, Pusic said.
Food could also be transported by road, but under strict regulations, Pusic said, adding that she believed that chapter No. 12 would be closed in June.
