EU, Croatia and Slovenia launch new round of talks on border dispute

BRUSSELS, Belgium

A new round of talks including Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic, his Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn will be held on Wednesday (June 17th) in Brussels in a last-ditch effort to find a solution to the border dispute that is blocking Croatia’s EU accession talks.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told Reuters Tuesday that Croatia would hardly be able to complete its EU entry talks by the end of the year, and become a member of the bloc in 2011.

“It’s not impossible. We’ll try, but needless to say there’s been some slippage in the schedule,” said Bildt. Sweden is taking over the EU’s six month rotating presidency in July.