Croatia to close EU accession talks on Thursday

Croatia will close the four remaining policy chapters and formally complete its EU accession negotiations at a ministerial accession conference on Thursday afternoon, just a few hours prior to the end of Hungary’s EU presidency term.

The European Council last week adopted a political decision to complete negotiations with Croatia. According to the summit’s conclusion, negotiations with Croatia should be concluded by the end of June and an accession treaty is to be signed by December. The member states’ ratification process is likely to last until June 2013.