Border dispute with Slovenia delays Croatia EU entry talks[fr][de] 

Also on Thursday, Slovenia called off a meeting between the prime ministers of the two countries. 

A Zagreb government source told Croatia's state news agency Hina that Slovenia "did not suggest an alternative date or give reasons for the cancellation". 

The row between the two former Yugoslav republics has held up Croatia's negotiations with the bloc because Slovenia, as an EU member state, has veto power over progress in the talks. 

If the dispute is not resolved quickly, Croatia could fail to achieve its goal of finishing entry talks this year and joining the bloc in 2010 or 2011, diplomats say. They also say Zagreb is lagging behind with reforms in some key areas like the judiciary, agriculture and the ailing shipbuilding industry. 

"A new date (for the conference) is to be set subject to positive development," the EU presidency said in a statement. 

"The lack of headway in the negotiations on chapters that are ready to be opened and closed does not reflect the actual progress achieved on the ground by Croatia." 

It added that the trio of the past, present and incoming EU presidencies - France, the Czech Republic and Sweden - had "strong conviction that an agreement allowing to proceed with the negotiations is now within reach". 

Croatia and Slovenia held another round of talks with EU officials in Brussels on Wednesday and Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn came up with a fresh proposal to resolve a dispute. 

According to media reports, Rehn proposed forming an ad-hoc arbitration commission for the border, which should operate on principles of international law, something that Croatia insists on. 

For Slovenia's access to international waters - a key worry for Ljubljana in the dispute - arbitrators could also take into consideration what they deem to be fair and equitable, as demanded by Ljubljana. 

The border dispute, dating back to the 1991 breakup of Yugoslavia, prompted Slovenia to veto large parts of Croatia's EU talks in December. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.) 

Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Gordan Jandrokovic said on 22 April that the latest proposal from EU Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn provided a good basis for a solution to the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute. 

"Rehn's proposal, which is supported by the presidential troika, is a good basis for seeking an acceptable solution and contains, to a large extent, well-known Croatian views, namely separation of Croatia's negotiating process from bilateral issues, unblocking of Croatia's accession negotiations and settlement of the border dispute in accordance with international law, before an international judicial body," Jandrokovic told reporters after a series of meetings held in Brussels. 

"There are still some elements on which we need to conduct political consultations in Croatia and I believe Croatia will present its final position very soon," he added, quoted by the Croatian agency Hina. 

The Croatian daily Javno published details of Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn's recommendations. 

According to the new proposal, the land and sea borders between Croatia and Slovenia would be determined by a five-membered arbitration court in accordance with international law. Croatia and Slovenia would appoint one member each, while the remaining three members would be collaboratively appointed. If they cannot agree on the matter, the remaining three members would be named by the president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. 

The two sides should agree on what the "regime on using naval areas and Slovenia's contact with the open sea" means. Should they fail to do so, the arbitration court would perform this task. 

The proposal anticipates that Croatian EU accession talks will be unblocked as soon as the parliaments of both countries have ratified the agreement on handing over the border dispute to the arbitration court. Upon signing the agreement, they would commit themselves to ratifying it in their parliaments. 

It is expected that the two sides will present their final response to Rehn's proposal at the beginning of May, Javno writes.