BRUSSELS / BELGRADE – Today’s meeting of Committee on EU Enlargement of the Council of the EU (COELA) ended without Croatia’s approval to open negotiating chapter 23 with Serbia, says Tanja Miščević, Chief negotiator for Serbia’s accession to the EU, for Tanjug news agency.
The Croatian representatives did not have instructions on how to vote, because of which this topic was removed from the agenda. According to Miščević, discussion will be resumed next week.
Croatian officials have announced before that they will not approve the opening of chapter 23 with Serbia, unsatisfied with universal juridiction of Serbian courts on war crimes in former Yugoslavia and the position of the Croatian minority in Serbia.
Opening of the negotiating chapters requires an unanimous decision of all EU members.