(Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier said on Friday that conditions had been created for lifting Croatia's reservation to the opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia's EU accession negotiations, but that Croatia would continue to watch Serbia's compliance with obligations to the Croatian minority as part of Chapter 23.
"I wish to welcome the agreement annex which Serbia's education minister signed in Belgrade today with representatives of the Croatian national minority, the Croat National Council, and the authority for textbooks... Based on what was signed... I can announce that, as far as Croatia is concerned, we can lift the reservation on Chapter 26," Stier said at an extraordinary press conference.
He said the annex regulated the issue of textbooks, including translations from Serbian into Croatian and from Cyrillic into Latin, as well as special content for the Croatian national minority.
Stier said that, as part of the Serbia-EU negotiations on Chapter 23, which regulates the judiciary and fundamental rights, Croatia would continue to watch Serbia's compliance with all obligations concerning national minorities, notably the Croatian.
"I expect the agreement to be implemented by the fourth quarter of 2017," he said, adding that the signing of the annex "is a very good day for the Croatian national minority."
Stier said he was pleased that such a document was signed with the other ethnic minorities in Serbia too, adding that the ambassadors of Croatia, the EU and Bulgaria attended the ceremony.
He went on to say that Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn had provided the explanations Croatia had requested and that this showed that he would be involved in overseeing the implementation of all obligations concerning the education of ethnic minorities.
Chapter 26 in the Serbia-EU entry talks, which regulates education and culture, could be opened early next year, depending on when Malta, as the EU president, will convene an intergovernmental conference.