European Forum

EU cancels Croatia membership talks following unresolved border dispute with Slovenia

On Wednesday 24 June the European Union (EU) indefinitely cancelled the next round of accession negotiations talks with Croatia planned for 26 June, due to a lack of progress in Croatia and Slovenia's border dispute. EU officials said that the two countries last week failed to resolve their water and border dispute. "Despite substantial efforts to facilitate a solution to the country's border dispute with Slovenia, Croatia's accession talks remain blocked and no new chapters can be formally opened or closed," the Czech presidency said in a statement.

An obviously frustrated international community has now told Croatia and Slovenia to resolve the issue on their own. On Monday, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country takes over the EU presidency on July 1, called for "a period of reflection in both countries", and said Sweden would not propose any initiatives until the sides were ready.

The cancellation of the EU-Croatia intergovernmental conference means that no EU accession conference with Croatia will have been organised during the Czech Republic's six-month presidency. It is the first time no such conference has taken place under a presidency since Croatia started EU talks in October 2005.

Slovenia and Croatia have been unable to agree on their common land and sea borders since they both seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991. In April, the EU proposed to create a tribunal to arbitrate in the dispute, but there has been little, if any, progress. Moreover, Slovenia has viewed EU mediation as a way to resolve the row, but Croatia considers it simply a stepping stone to a resolution before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Croatia hopes to become EU's 28th member by 2011, but that timetable might now be extended as accession talks will most probably not be completed by the end of this year –as previously envisaged by Croatia. Slovenia, a EU member since 2004, partially blocked Croatia's previous round of accession negotiations with the EU in December. Last Tuesday, Slovenia blocked the closing of another chapter, on statistics, in Croatia’s EU accession negotiations, leaving Zagreb with a total of 13 blocked chapters. The statistics chapter is particularly sensitive as it contains maps sent to Brussels as party of Croatia's accession documents, with the country's borders pre-drawn against Slovenia's wishes.


Sources: Balkan Insight; EU Observer; Volkskrant