Brussels, 18/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - Croatia will take a further step towards joining the EU on Tuesday 19 April with two more chapters - agriculture and regional policy - being closed. This will mean that, in all, the country will have closed 30 of the 35 chapters to be negotiated. The five remaining chapters are: justice and fundamental rights, competition, fisheries, budget and other issues. The Croatian government, of course, wants to close the talks by the end of June. This deadline might very well be missed, however, because of the difficulties the country is facing in meeting the “closing benchmarks” set by member states for the final chapters, and in particular justice and fundamental rights. On 2 March, the Commission published an interim report which, while noting “considerable progress” on reform of the justice system, tackling corruption and respect for fundamental rights, concluded that Zagreb was still far from satisfying the criteria that would allow this sensitive chapter to be closed (see EUROPE 10327). In its joint position, which will be put to the Croats at an Association Council to be held in Brussels on Tuesday 19 April, the EU will regret that there is no “track record”, that is, no compliance with objective and transparent procedures for recruiting judges and state prosecutors. Member states regret, too, that most high-level corruption and cases of public procurement fraud have yet to reach the stage of court rulings. (H.B./transl.rt)