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Slovenia Again Blocks Croatia's EU Progress
Ljubljana, Zagreb | 18 December 2009 |
Earlier this week, Slovenia – in an ongoing dispute with Croatia over unresolved borders – blocked the opening of talks in three new areas during a meeting with Croatian and EU representatives, news agencies quoted unnamed diplomats as saying.
Things had been looking up for Croatia after its prime minister signed a deal with her Slovenian counterpart in mid-November to allow international arbitration to resolve the long-running border dispute.
Before that, Slovenia had blocked Croatia’s EU accession for the past year.
Despite the frequent setbacks, Croatia did make some gains this week, clinching the closure of two more ‘negotiating chapters’ on freedom to provide services and social politics and employment, which will be formally closed on Monday, according to Croatian news agencies. The finalization of these two additional chapters will mean that Croatia is half way to EU accession. On Thursday, the EU gave Zagreb the go-ahead open additional chapters. The country has 16 chapters left to close, five of which have not yet been opened.
Among the unopened chapters are those on the judiciary and fundamental rights (concerning cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY) and on the submission of the artillery logs to the international court.
Slovenia has kept Croatia from opening chapters on foreign, security and defense Policies, the environment, and fishery – the latter due to the ongoing dispute over territorial waters, specifically over the boundaries of the Piran Bay.
Reuters quoted an unnamed Slovenian diplomat as saying on Monday that “we have reservations,” adding that they could unblock talks again early next year. The diplomat did not detail Slovenia’s concerns.
Agence France Presse likewise quoted a European diplomat as saying that Slovenia still had “reservations regarding the start of negotiations about the new chapters.”
Croatia is hoping to become the EU’s 28th member by 2012. To meet that goal, accession negotiations would have to be wrapped up by the end of next year, and this will require Slovenia’s agreement.
