Croatia set for progress in EU talks Friday

(BRUSSELS) - Croatia resumes its EU membership talks Friday after ending a row with Slovenia that had blocked negotiations, with officials suggesting good progress can be made.

At a ministerial accession conference in Brussels, the EU and Croatia are expected to open six new chapters -- or policy negotiating areas -- of the 35 chapters that all candidates must complete to join, a diplomat said Thursday.

At the same time, the EU could judge that Croatia has completed five other chapters which have been held up by the border row with its neighbour and EU member Slovenia.

However Slovenia could block progress on three other chapters "keeping them tucked under its arm just in case the resolution of the border dispute doesn't go the right way," another diplomat said.

Last month, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn expressed hope that Croatia would soon take a major step forward in its membership talks, and that it might be possible for Zagreb to complete them by the middle of next year.

The 18-year-old border dispute has held up Croatia's progress since December, and Slovenia has insisted it be resolved before the accession negotiations resume.

The row involving a small piece of land and sea dates back to 1991, when the two proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia.

Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and Croatia had hoped to become the EU's 28th member by 2011, but that timetable has been under a cloud.