European Forum

Croatia’s EU entry further away due to border dispute

On Thursday 18 June talks in Brussels aimed at settling the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute once again failed. This decreased the chances for Croatia to complete its EU accession talks by the end of this year.

The mediation attempt led by European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, collapsed because Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader rejected Slovenian amendments to a European Commission proposal to resolve the dispute. In May, Mr Rehn proposed a new version of his mediation plan - which provided for the setting up of an ad hoc arbitration and for an immediate unblocking of the country's membership negotiations by Slovenia. Croatia was satisfied with the proposal and accepted it. Slovenia however said it would have some amendments to it. “For Croatia, the May proposal was ‘a take it or leave it’ one”, Mr Sanader said at an event organised by the Hanns Seidel Stiftung in Brussels. "Slovenia had amendments – we can't accept them," he added.

Now Croatia is instead putting forward its own proposals under which both the Slovenian and the Croatian parliaments would adopt "a joint declaration that no document drafted since the independence of the two countries in 1991, could in any way prejudge the disputed border”. Moreover, the countries would "try to get a joint opinion from the two legal services of the European Commission and the council… on whether documents presented in the EU negotiations could prejudge the border." One of Slovenia's arguments when it blocked the accession talks of Croatia in December was that Zagreb had provided maps in the negotiations process which prejudged their common border.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said that it was not appropriate to circulate new proposals when another was on the table. Slovenia argues that some of Croatia's accession documentation were prejudicial for the outcome of the row. Mr Zbogar also said it would be "very difficult" that Slovenia unblocks Croatia's EU talks before the summer, as Zagreb wants.

EU-member Slovenia has blocked progress in Zagreb's accession talks due to a land and sea border dispute dating to the 1991 break-up of the former Yugoslavia. Slovenia's wants to have direct access to international waters in the northern Adriatic, which it shares with Croatia and Italy, and several villages on the northern Istrian peninsula. Croatia is the only ex-Yugoslav republic to open accession talks so far. Due to the Slovenian position, it is racing against time to complete the talks by the end of this year.


Sources: Balkan Insight; SETimes; EU Observer; NRC