Croatia, Slovenia PMs Meet, No Deal

Until there is progress in solving the border dispute, Slovenia will not stop blocking Croatia`s European Union accession negotiations, Slovenian Prime Minster Borut Pahor said on Tuesday.

After a one hour meeting, which was also the first meeting of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart Borut Pahor, it was concluded that neither Croatia nor Slovenia will give up on their demands: Slovenia will not stand down on the referendum and Croatia will not forsake solving the border dispute before an international court.

“Until there is progress in solving the border dispute, Slovenia will not stop blocking Croatia`s European Union accession negotiations,” Pahor said.

Sanader maintained that the border issue should be solved before an international court, while Slovenia, as Pahor pointed out, supports the initiative of European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. Sanader does not favour this idea.

“Croatia welcomes the involvement of the European Commission in solving the bilateral dispute, which is not an European issue, but an issue of the two countries,” Croatia`s Sanader said.

This is the first meeting of Ivo Sanader and Borut Pahor since Pahor became Slovene Premier. Relations between the two countries were additionally complicated by Slovenia`s initiative to hold a referendum on Croatian NATO accession. Before the meeting, Sanader said he expects the “story to end” today, at the Mokrice meeting.

Unlike him, Borut Pahor still maintains his position that this issue should be solved on an European level, and not the level between two countries. Therefore, Sanader reminded of the fact that Slovenia accessed both the EU and NATO with the same issues that it is now “blackmailing” Croatia with.

“The same principle should be used in Croatia`s European Union accession, therefore, separate it from negotiations. The important thing is to finalise it and for the border issue to be solved after 18 years, so that it is not a term for Croatia`s EU entry,” the Croatian prime minister said.

On the other hand, Slovene PM Pahor announced that he would submit a proposal to the Slovene government and the foreign policy Assembly for support in solving the border dispute, Rehn`s proposal, however, he leaves the option whether the state authorities would accept it open.

In the end, Pahor pointed out that the next meeting would be soon held in Zagreb.