(BRUSSELS) - Croatia should complete its negotiations on joining the European Union next year, EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said Thursday, giving a schedule for the first time for the pre-accession process.

"I have every confidence that it should be possible to conclude the technical negotiations next year, preferably by the end of the mandate of this commission," Barroso told a joint press conference in Brussels with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

That mandate will come to an end in autumn 2009.

If those adhesion talks can be wrapped up next year, Croatia could expect to become the 28th member of the European Union in 2010.

It would thus become the second former Yugoslav nation to join up, after Slovenia.

Barroso said Croatia still had "a number of conditions" to fulfill -- starting with improving its management of EU financial assistance.

Barroso's comments came hours after the Croatian parliament voted to ease restrictions on an Adriatic fishing zone which had been strongly opposed by Brussels.

The parliament in Zagreb, at Sanander's bidding, agreed not to apply the fishing restrictions to EU members until a long-term deal can be reached.

The 23,800-kilometre (9,500-mile) zone was created in 2003. It was aimed at protecting fishing stocks which Croatia claims are being depleted by Italy's larger fleet.

Barroso welcomed the move, adding that Brussels understood that the Adriatic is a special concern for Zagreb.

Work would begin on drawing up a European proposal for a fisheries protection area in the region, he added.

"Croatia is in a position to make 2008 a decisive year of progress," Barroso said.

Croatia started talks on joining the EU in 2005, at the same time as Turkey, but is much further down the road towards acceptance having already opened talks on 16 of the 35 policy chapters which all candidate nations must successfully complete before membership.

Sanader stressed that it was the right decision to join the European Union.

"I'm sure we can succeed. Croatia can be a success story and a model country for the other countries in the region," he said.

"I am very confident Croatia will be the 28th member of the EU."

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