EU-Croatia intergovernmental conference postponed

25/03/2009

ZAGREB, Croatia -- The Czech presidency of the EU decided on Tuesday (March 24th) to postpone the intergovernmental conference on Croatia's accession talks by a month, until April 24th. The move followed a request from Slovenia, which blocked Zagreb's EU accession negotiations in December because of the ongoing border dispute between the two countries. The European Commission recently intervened, trying to convince Croatia and Slovenia to reach some compromise so the accession process could resume. For the time being, however, the EU mediation has not helped. Croatia still insists the International Court of Justice should settle the dispute, an idea Slovenia opposes. (HRT, Business.hr - 24/03/09)