This chapter is easy, so that can be opened and closed on the same day, a source at the Austrian EU presidency said on Friday.
Ambassadors from EU member-countries on Thursday adopted without debate a draft joint negotiating position on science and research in talks with Croatia, but they failed to reach agreement on Turkey and had to continue the debate on Friday. The source from the Austrian EU presidency expressed optimism that Turkey too would be given the green light to start talks on the same chapter on Monday.
The EU launched membership talks with Croatia and Turkey on 3 October 2005, which was followed by the process of screening, an in-depth analysis of the level of adjustment of the countries' legislation to that of the EU. The screening is being conducted simultaneously for both countries.
So far Croatia has completed the screening for half the acquis communautaire and the European Commission has drawn up reports for only four chapters - on science and research, education and culture, public procurement, and market competition.
As for the latter two chapters, the EC has proposed that Croatia meet certain standards before it opens negotiations, the so-called benchmarks.
According to diplomatic sources, benchmarks will also be set for most other chapters, which is a change in relation to the previous enlargement round.
Following its experience in the previous enlargement round, when some countries joined the EU unprepared, the EU decided to request aspiring countries to meet certain criteria even before starting negotiations on individual chapters. Those criteria, the so-called benchmarks, initially slow down the negotiating process, but later it becomes faster because candidate countries implement the necessary reforms and meet the set requirements.