Croatia unblocks Chapter 26 for Serbia and the EU

Croatia is ready to lift its reservation on the opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia's EU accession talks, as the issue of textbooks for the Croatian national minority was resolved in Belgrade on Friday, said Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Davor Ivo Stier in a statement to reporters, Patria reports.

On Friday in Belgrade, the Serbian Minister of Education signed an annex to the agreement with representatives of the Croatian National Council and the Textbook Institute, which regulates the issue of textbooks, not only their translation from Serbian to Croatian and from Cyrillic to Latin script, but they will also contain special supplements, i.e., content for the Croatian minority, Stier said. 

The Croatian head of diplomacy welcomed this decision and said that this is a very good day for the Croatian minority in Serbia.

- The conditions have been met for us to lift the reservation on Chapter 26. I want to say that within Chapter 23, we will monitor the fulfillment of all obligations regarding national minorities, with an emphasis on the Croatian minority - said Stier.

Strained relations due to the blockade

- At our request, Commissioner Hahn informed me and provided the explanations we requested. The Commissioner will personally be involved in monitoring the implementation of all agreed obligations - said Stier.

- Based on what has been signed, the conditions have been met for us to lift the reservation on Chapter 26, and I want to say that within Chapter 23, we will monitor the fulfillment of all obligations regarding national minorities, he concluded.

At the intergovernmental conference in Brussels on December 13, Croatia did not lift its reservation for the opening of Chapter 26 on education and culture because Serbia, as Prime Minister Plenković said, had not fulfilled its obligations towards the Croatian minority. 

Serbian officials then showered Croatian authorities with harsh criticism, but official Zagreb had claimed from the beginning that this was an unnecessary dramatization and that Serbia could easily resolve the issue.

(index.hr)