The committee of EU countries' ambassadors (COREPER) last night adopted reports on the screening of two chapters -- Freedom of Movement of Workers and Transport Policy, concluding that Croatia was sufficiently prepared for opening negotiations on those chapters without additional benchmarks.
The Council of the EU recently adopted the Union's joint negotiating position on the Intellectual Property chapter, whereby all procedural conditions have been met for opening negotiations on this chapter. Croatia and the EU only have to agree when the Intergovernmental Conference at which the negotiations will be opened is to be held.
Croatia has been given two benchmarks for temporarily closing the Intellectual Property chapter -- it must complete adjustment to the EU's acquis communautaire and provide administrative capacities for the implementation of legislation which will regulate this field when Croatia joins the EU.
The Council of the EU has adopted reports on the screening of 22 chapters. No additional benchmarks have been set for 15, while negotiations on seven may be opened once benchmarks are met.
The Croatian government yesterday adopted its negotiating position on the Statistics chapter, for which Croatia has not requested transitional periods or lasting exemptions.
So far Zagreb has defined negotiating positions on 10 chapters and opened negotiations on five, of which two have been temporarily closed.