EU wants Croatia-Slovenia border dispute settled this week

16/06/2009

Croatia and Slovenia must reach a solution to their border dispute this week, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said. Another meeting is expected to take place Wednesday.

(AFP, DPA, Bloomberg, Euronews, Javno, B92, MINA - 15/06/09)

"I honestly hope we will soon end this process. The moment of truth is at hand," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said before the meeting. [Getty Images]

Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers failed to reach a deal on the lingering border dispute between their countries during talks with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn in Luxembourg on Monday (June 15th).

"Today, we didn't find a solution, and we agreed to continue with our discussions," Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said after the meeting.

The talks focused on Rehn's latest proposal for a settlement to the dispute, dating back to 1991, when both nations proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia. The row over several small villages and the line of the maritime border between the two Adriatic states has become a major stumbling block for Croatia's EU accession progress.

Slovenia, which joined the Union in 2004, has been vetoing the opening of new negotiation chapters in Croatia's membership talks with Brussels since December 2008. It threatened to keep blocking the process until the border dispute is resolved.

The stalemate could jeopardise Croatia's chances of wrapping up its entry talks by the end of this year, as planned, analysts warned. The Balkan nation, which hopes to join the Union as its 28th member by 2011, has closed only seven of the 33 negotiation chapters to date.

In a bid to break the deadlock, Rehn proposed a plan for a settlement in April, under which an ad hoc international arbitration tribunal would be set up to solve disputes.

Describing it as a "take it or leave it" offer, Croatia accepted the proposal. But politicians in Slovenia were unhappy with the plan, saying that their country was not explicitly recognised as a maritime nation, which could prevent it from securing direct access to international shipping waters in the northern Adriatic.

In May, Slovenia submitted amendments to Rehn's proposal. Describing the demanded changes as "crucial" for his country's interests, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor warned that Ljubljana would reject the plan altogether if they are not incorporated.

On Monday, Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said Rehn's new proposal included some of the suggestions sent to Brussels last month.

"Now we need to study the proposal and discuss it in government and parliament," he told reporters after the talks in Luxembourg.

Rehn said a solution must be reached before the two-day EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. He indicated later that a new meeting would likely take place on Wednesday after the two ministers hold the necessary consultations back home.

"Our productivity could be higher, but at least we are doing very thorough work," the DPA quoted Rehn as saying.

Pahor said he was "satisfied in principle" with the new version of the plan, telling reporters in Ljubljana that it came closer to reflecting the national interests of both countries.

"This could represent the basis for a definitive solution that would justly set the common border," AFP quoted the Slovenian prime minister as saying.