Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said only two bills remained to be adjusted and that the adjustment to the EU legislation was almost completed.

We expect to open three and close another two chapters in Croatia-EU entry talks at another accession conference to be held by the year's end, Kosor said, reiterating that so far Croatia had provisionally closed 15 policy chapters.

"We also expect the forming of a task force to draw up Croatia's EU accession treaty and according to available information this could happen by the end of this year," the PM said.

Kosor recalled that this year a total of 82 laws had been aligned with the EU legislation. She also said Croatia expected to open negotiations in several chapters, including the judiciary and agriculture. "I believe we will be successful there too," she said.

The PM called on her ministers to continue working on adjusting national legislation to European standards.

Kosor put this in the context of the entry into force of the Lisbon reform treaty earlier this week, which she said created a legal framework and opened the door to Croatia to join the bloc as the 28th member.

From the package of laws that are to be adjusted to EU standards, the government also sent to parliament a bill on water management and a set of bills regulating the judiciary sector.