Chief Negotiator Vladimir Drobnjak said that during the French EU chairmanship Croatia had continued making headway in the EU membership talks and that it made a significant job in the technical and procedural preparation for the opening and provisional closing of a great number of policy chapters, that is negotiating areas, in the talks.
The Croatian government holds that it has made moderate progress in the entire process, taking into account all the circumstances, that is Slovenia's blockade of the opening and closing of some policy chapters.
According to the Ivo Sanader cabinet, Croatia's EU accession negotiations have entered the final and most complex phase in which particular attention should be given to the further implementation of reforms and to the efficient enactment of the EU acquis communautaire.
Croatia has so far opened 22 policy chapters and closed seven of them.
There is a total of 35 policy chapters and not all of them are subject to negotiations.
An additional nine chapters are ready for opening and two for temporary closing, but the process has been halted due to Slovenia's reservations and its insistence that it and Croatia should solve their border issue before the latter enters the EU.