Last week, Croatia closed the chapters related to "free movement of capital," "transport policy" and "institutions". Croatia has now provisionally closed 25 chapters, leaving the country with nine more areas to be closed, or ten if the policy area "other issues" is counted.
The chapters "institutions" and "other issues" are different in substance, because they do not contain any European legislation which national laws must be adjusted to comply with.
"Institutions" defines how the future EU member state will be represented in the EU institutions, while "other issues" often deals with arrangements made when the full picture of the accession talks becomes clear. In the "free movement of capital" chapter, Croatia was given an important transitional period which delays the free sale of farmland to EU citizens. Exemption from EU rules on free trade in farmland will last for seven years from the day of Croatia's accession to the EU. After the end of the seven-year period, Croatia will be able to ask for another three years, but it will have to back its request with strong arguments.
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