Eurasia Press & News
The EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn met the Slovenian and Croatian foreign ministers on Wednesday in an another attempt to end Ljubljana’s blockade of Croatia’s EU accession talks.
In Brussels, Rehn was to meet Slovenia’s Samuel Zbogar and Croatia’s Gordan Jandrokovic to discuss the latest proposal to resolve the border dispute between the two countries that has a led to a freeze on Zagreb’s further EU integration.
Slovenia has responded positively the latest proposal, according to a recent statement by the Slovene MEP Jelko Kacin.
The Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari was expected to attend meeting, though Rehn did not want to elaborate what his role would be in the talks.
Rehn earlier proposed Ahtisaari as a mediator in the dispute.
Ahead of the meeting, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader reiterated that Croatia wanted to settle the dispute through international law, repeating that Zagreb sought friendship with Ljubljana, did not plan to buy it with territorial concessions.
Meanwhile, Slovenian President Danilo Turk told Al Jazeera that the issue could theoretically be settled in a few months, with the help of the European Commission and its mediators.
Asked whether he saw Croatia within the EU a year from now, Turk replied that Slovenia wanted Croatia in the EU, but that Zagreb had to settle all open issues, such as cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and reforming its justice system.
The Czech EU presidency has repeated its warning that it has already had to postpone a conference on Croatia’s EU accession, from March 27 until April 24, because of the dispute. If no solution to the problem is found, the issue would be included on the agenda of the next formal meeting of EU foreign ministers.
