Croatia Closes Three Chapters in EU Entry Talks - Hina

With a total of 15 closed chapters, Croatia now expects the forming of a task force to draw up an accession agreement, Hina (www.hina.hr) reported.

The chapters that were closed on Friday are Financial Services, Energy, and Consumer and Health Protection.

By the end of this year, Croatia could open another three and close one or two chapters in its EU membership talks, Hina added.

The European Commission said in October that Croatia has made good progress in its accession talks with the bloc and the negotiation process could be concluded in 2010 if the country meets all outstanding benchmarks in time.