Stier says Croatia lifting blockade of Chapter 26 in Serbia-EU entry talks

Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier said on Friday that conditions had been created for lifting Croatia's reservation to the opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia's EU accession negotiations, but that Croatia would continue to watch Serbia's compliance with obligations to the Croatian minority as part of Chapter 23.

"I wish to welcome the agreement annex which Serbia's education minister signed in Belgrade today with representatives of the Croatian national minority, the Croat National Council, and the authority for textbooks... Based on what was signed... I can announce that, as far as Croatia is concerned, we can lift the reservation on Chapter 26," Stier said at an extraordinary press conference.

He said the annex regulated the issue of textbooks, including translations from Serbian into Croatian and from Cyrillic into Latin, as well as special content for the Croatian national minority.

Stier said that, as part of the Serbia-EU negotiations on Chapter 23, which regulates the judiciary and fundamental rights, Croatia would continue to watch Serbia's compliance with all obligations concerning national minorities, notably the Croatian.

"I expect the agreement to be implemented by the fourth quarter of 2017," he said, adding that the signing of the annex "is a very good day for the Croatian national minority."

Stier said he was pleased that such a document was signed with the other ethnic minorities in Serbia too, adding that the ambassadors of Croatia, the EU and Bulgaria attended the ceremony.

He went on to say that Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn had provided the explanations Croatia had requested and that this showed that he would be involved in overseeing the implementation of all obligations concerning the education of ethnic minorities.

Chapter 26 in the Serbia-EU entry talks, which regulates education and culture, could be opened early next year, depending on when Malta, as the EU president, will convene an intergovernmental conference.

Stier also commented on Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic's statement, after Russia gave Serbia six used MiG-29 planes, that something like Croatia's 1995 military operations Flash and Storm would never happen again.

"Croatia proudly celebrates Victory Day. Of course, no one will endanger Croatia's territorial integrity ever again," he said, adding that Croatia should not comment on statements given in the context of electioneering in Serbia but focus on achieving results in matters important to Croatia.

"We wanted to be 100% sure that a result would be achieved concerning education for the Croatian national minority. An annex to the agreement regulating that was signed today. We received explanations from the European Commission about how that will be overseen and the implementation dynamic and we will focus our work based on that result," Stier said.

At a December 13 Serbia-EU intergovernmental conference, Croatia did not lift its reservation to the opening of Chapter 26 because Serbia, according to Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic, had not fulfilled its obligations to the Croatian minority. Serbian officials harshly criticised the Croatian authorities, but Zagreb claimed they were being unnecessarily dramatic and that Serbia could solve the issue very easily.

Text: Hina

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