The purpose of the conference is to establish rules of conduct and organisation of negotiations between Croatia and the EU, as well as define the programme of negotiations for the first three months of next year.
It is common practice to hold at least two conferences on accession during the EU presidency of a country - one at the ministerial level and the other at the level of deputy ministers.
The conference on accession is the only body which opens or closes negotiations with a country.
The second conference on accession is expected in May next year, when negotiations could be launched on concrete chapters for which the procedure of screening has been completed.