Croatia took a significant step towards concluding its EU accession process by closing three more negotiating chapters during a recent enlargement conference in Brussels.
Finalised negotiations on the environment, justice and security, and foreign, security and defence policy mean that 28 chapters have now been closed in total.
Both the EU and Croatia aim to conclude the talks in the first half of next year and to sign the accession treaty in autumn, although the EU has refused to set a date for Croatia to join.
Enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said he recognised there was "a goal to conclude accession talks during the Hungarian EU presidency". But he warned there was still work to be done in Croatia to meet the remaining benchmarks, as well as in the EU where the accession treaty must be prepared for signing and ratification.
According to Mr Fuele, 2010 has been a successful year for negotiations with Zagreb as 11 chapters have been closed.
The EU has taken an increasingly cautious approach to further enlargement. Some new mechanisms in the negotiation process with candidate countries have been installed, with Croatia and Turkey the first to be subjected to the new rules.
The rules were intended to enhance "credibility" said Mr Fuele, who specifically mentioned the introduction of opening benchmarks (candidate countries have to meet certain criteria even before they can open a chapter) and the requirement of a positive "track record" as a condition for a chapter to be closed.
Croatia has reached the final stage of accession talks after more than five years of negotiations, but some difficult decisions still lie ahead. The country still needs to restructure its shipyard industry and continue to fight against corruption at all levels; these will be the two key issues over the next few months.
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