"Further Accession Conferences are planned this semester with a view to finalise accession negotiations," reads a press release issued after Croatia today provisionally closed two policy areas in Brussels. The policy areas closed are Chapter 11 - Agriculture and Rural Development and Chapter 22 - Regional Policy and the Coordination of Structural Instruments, which brought the number of provisionally closed chapters to 30 of 35. The remaining chapters are Competition Policy, Fisheries, Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, Finance and Budgetary Provisions, and Other Issues.
It is already known that Hungary's presidency over the EU is planning to organise the last accession conference on 21 June, and today's press release in Brussels implicitly suggests that the goal is to finish the entry talks in the first half of 2011.
Hungary, whose six-month EU chairmanship ends on 30 June, puts Croatia's EU entry talks high on its agenda. Budapest does not rule out a possibility of convening another accession conference in May when the policy area on Fisheries may be closed provided that the Council of the EU completes the formal procedure of the harmonisation of the joint negotiating position.