Croatia moved forward in its European Union accession talks on Tuesday by completing two more negotiation chapters, or policy areas, of EU legislation.

Zagreb has to close four more of the 33 chapters, but must press on hard to meet the requirements in the most demanding policy areas, the judiciary and competition policy.

Below is the current status of Croatia's EU negotiations, which began in October 2005.

* Croatia has opened all 33 chapters, or policy areas of the joint EU law, and closed 29. There are two more chapters but they are not negotiated, requiring only technical adoption. Croatia is likely to close talks in fisheries next month, while the chapter on the financial and budgetary framework is normally closed at the end of the talks.

* Issues on which the pace largely depends:
- Croatia must press ahead with fighting corruption, judiciary reform, impartial handling of war crimes cases and full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal.
- Must scrap state subsidies to loss-making shipyards and make them able to compete on the common market without state aid. It is currently negotiating with potential local investors interested in acquiring the docks. The European Commission is still reviewing Zagreb's sale plans for most of the ailing docks.

* What is at stake if accession talks are delayed?

Local officials say that completing the talks by mid-2011 has a significant financial and economic importance for the Balkan country as Croatia was entitled to draw up to 3.5 billion euros from EU structural funds in 2012 and 2013. After that the EU will launch a new a seven-year financial framework which may be less favourable for Croatia's first years of membership.

Croatia has already missed the possibility to draw funds for 2012 as in the best case scenario it can become a member at the beginning of 2013.

Croatia must hold a referendum within 30 days after signing the EU accession treaty. Support has been around 50 percent in recent months but according to the opinion polls in the last few days the conviction of the two former Croatian generals at the Hague tribunal had a strong negative impact on the pro-EU mood among citizens.

However, analysts believe support will recover by the time Croatia holds the referendum. At the same time, many citizens feel poorly informed about benefits of the EU membership.

Also read: Croats protest against Hague conviction of generals

(REUTERS)