Croatia, Slovenia Presidents Bid to Mend Ties

Zagreb _ Croatian President Stipe Mesic and his Slovenian counterpart Danilo Turk have called for intensified dialogue between their countries to solve issues including a border dispute.

In his first official visit to Croatia since taking office, Slovenia's President Danilo Turk discussed with his Croatian counterpart the maritime border dispute between the two countries.

However Turk emphasised that he did not come to Croatia “to bring a new proposal on how to solve the ongoing disputes,” referring particularly to the inability of the successive governments of both countries to define the maritime border between the countries.

Slovenia's President did admit that he considers the so-called Racan-Drnovsek Agreement a “relevant” document, not only because of its “interesting content” but also because of the fact that it is characterised by “wisdom.”

He added that the agreement might serve as an “important indication on how to solve this problem.”

The Racan-Drnovsek Agreement is a document signed in 2001 by the former Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan and Slovenia’s Janez Drnovsek, who both headed center-left governments.

It proposed a border that would cut through the Croatian side of the Piran Bay.

The two Prime Ministers signed it, but soon afterwards they both had to deal with fierce opposition by nationalist forces in their respective countries - Racan because the agreement gave more than half of the bay to Slovenia, while Drnovsek faced criticism because it did not give Slovenia passage to the international waters of the Adriatic Sea.

Racan eventually had to give up the agreement and instead proposed international arbitration.

Slovenia's centre-right government, headed by Janez Jansa, buried the agreement in 2004.

In 2005, Jansa and the current Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who also opposed the Racan-Drnovesek document, agreed to do everything in their power to prevent border incidents involving the local population in Piran Bay.
 
In 2007 Jansa finally agreed to arbitration before the International Court of Justice at The Hague
but withdrew its decision soon afterwards.

Slovenia's outgoing government has even been accused recently of blocking Croatia's accession negotiations with the EU, accusing its government of “premeditating the border” in its accession documents.

Finally, France as the country presiding over the EU presidency presented a proposal to unblock Croatia's negotiations according to which Croatia would give a written guarantee that it “won't prejudge” the disputed border.

Croatia agreed, while the new centre-left Slovenian government of Borut Pahor still has not given its clear answer.

During his visit to Croatia Slovenia's President Turk did, however repeat the words of the new Slovenian Prime Minister that France's proposal is “a step in the right direction.”

The dispute over their land and sea border has harmed ties between Croatia and Slovenia since 1991, when the two former Yugoslav republics proclaimed independence.

Croatia is hoping to become the European Union's 28th member by 2011. It was invited to join NATO in April, while its full accession to the military alliance is expected next year.