January 17 (SeeNews) - Serbia's European integration minister, Jadranka Joksimovic, said on Tuesday that Croatia and Bulgaria agreed to the opening of the chapter on education and culture in the country's EU accession talks, according to a Serbian government statement.
The consent for the opening of talks on Chapter 26 was given during a meeting of the Working Party on Enlargement and Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (COELA), the government quoted Joksimovic as telling Tanjug news agency,
The topic will be discussed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union (COREPER) by the end of the week and Chapter 26 will be opened at the EU-Serbia Intergovernmental Conference, to be held in February and March, Joksimovic added.
In December, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said he cut short a visit to Brussels in protest against Croatia decision to block the opening of Chapter 26. Foreign minister Ivica Dacic also commented on the matter, saying that there was an "anti-Serbian atmosphere in Croatia" and that Bulgaria had also expressed reservations about the opening of the education and culture chapter.
Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic explained the decision with the lack of textbooks in the Croat language for the Croatian minority in Serbia.
Serbia officially applied for EU membership on December 22, 2009, and the European Commission recommended making it an official candidate on October 12, 2011.
Belgrade has so far started talks on six out of the 35 chapters of EU law and has closed negotiations on one - science and research.