Slovenia cancels talks with Croatia on border dispute (Roundup)

Apr 23, 2009, 11:59 GMT

Zagreb/Ljubljana - Efforts to settle the ongoing border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia suffered a blow Thursday when Slovenia cancelled a high-level meeting scheduled for next week.

Last week, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said he would meet his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor and discuss the border row. The two premiers were to meet on April 28 in Trakoscan Castle in Croatia.

'This morning the news came that Slovenians are cancelling the Sanader-Pahor meeting,' Croatian state news agency Hina reported, quoting government sources.

Slovenia has so far not given a reason for the cancellation or said when a new meeting will take place.

Earlier on Thursday, Croatia welcomed the latest European Union proposal for resolving the border dispute, while Slovenia said it was still studying it.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has proposed that land and sea borders be determined by an international court made up of five judges chosen by Zagreb and Ljubljana, Croatian media reported.

He discussed the proposal with the Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.

Croatian Foreign Affairs Minister Gordan Jandrokovic was quoted in media reports on Thursday as saying the proposal was 'a good basis for finding an acceptable solution' and generally acceptable for Croatia.

Slovenia's Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, stated that it would 'carefully' study the new proposal and respond to it after a debate in parliament.

The row between the two countries dates back more than 15 years to 1991 when both Slovenia and Croatia ceded from the then Yugoslavia.

The dispute centres on the mutual border at the coastal town of Piran and with it access rights to the Adriatic Sea.

The row threatens Croatia's accession talks with the EU. Last December, Ljubljana blocked Zagreb's EU talks because of the dispute.