Slovenia will unblock the chapters at the next accession conference with the European Union, to be held next week under the chairmanship of Spain, spokesman for the Slovenian Foreign Ministry Milan Balazic said on Friday.

We are still talking about the two chapters today in Brussels, the negotiations are on the right path and we expect Croatia to be able to open them at the accession conference on 19 February, Balazic told the Slovenian news agency STA.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said in Brussels on Thursday evening that his government would lift a veto from at least two policy chapters in Croatia's EU membership negotiations, which Zagreb would be able to open at the intergovernmental accession conference.

Pahor did not specify what chapters would be unblocked.

Balazic explained today the two chapters were Fisheries and Environment, adding that Slovenia would remove the reservations it had so far regarding the opening of the said chapters.

Slovenia's substantial objections concerning the two chapters are related to Croatia's obligations from the agreement on the nuclear power plant of Krsko, the issue of Slovenia's fisheries' right from the bilateral agreement on cross-border cooperation and the issue of the application of the Croatian law on the Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone in the Adriatic (ZERP), Balazic said.

We believe Slovenia's interests would be well protected and included in the joint negotiating positions of the EU towards Croatia, the spokesman said.

Chapter Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, pertaining to issues of good neighbourly relations, is not yet ready for opening and it would be the discussed in the coming months, the spokesman said.