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Croatia remains reservations on opening Chapter 26 in Serbia's EU membership negotiation

Xinhua, December 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Croatia remained its reservations on opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia's application for European Union (EU) membership, a high rank official said on Tuesday.

Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier, who is attending an EU meeting in Brussels, was quoted by Croatian News Agency HINA as saying that Croatia has not yet lifted its reservations about Chapter 26 which covers education and culture.

Croatia was seeking additional explanations from the European Commission, Stier said, adding he believed the reservations could possibly be lifted at the beginning of 2017.

Croatia is objecting to the opening of the chapter because of its concerns about the lack of progress in producing textbooks for pupils from Serbia's Croat minority, according to local media.

The education of ethnic minorities is an important area, Stier was quoted as saying.

Croats account for less than 1 percent of Serbia's population. The Serbian and Croatian languages are very similar and were part of a common language before the split of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the reports said.

on Monday, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic cut short a visit to Brussels, apparently in protest against the Croatian blockade of Chapter 26, reports added. Enditem