Croatia to close two EU negotiation chapters Tuesday

Croatian local media suggest that Croatia is expected to provisionally close two more EU negotiation chapters at an intergovernmental conference Tuesday. One is on financial control, the other is food safety, veterinary and phyto-sanitary policy. This will bring the number of provisionally closed chapters to 22 out of 33. Several others reportedly are close to closing. Officials expect to close all chapters by early next year and sign the EU accession treaty soon afterwards. This will enable the country to join the EU in mid-2012, taking into account the time required for every member country to ratify the treaty.