"As chief negotiator I do declare that all the data we give to the European Commission in the screening process we give in good faith, after carefully studying data collected by competent state institutions," said Drobnjak.
"Croatia is not lying to the European Union," he added.
Citing a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Croatian media today said that Croatian representatives had given the EC wrong data when the education and culture chapter was screened.
According to the source, the EC was informed that Croatia invested 4.4 per cent of its GDP in education, whereas the source claimed the figure was a maximum 3.5 per cent. The EC was also informed that Croatia has 8,000 professors, whereas the source claimed that only 3,900 were on the Science and Education Ministry payroll.