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Croatia accepts EU's border dispute proposal, Slovenia "cautious"
May 5, 2009, 12:56 GMT
Zagreb - Croatia said Tuesday it would accept the European Union's proposal to use international arbitration to settle an ongoing border dispute with Slovenia.
'The president, the government, ministers, parliamentary parties and minority representatives all agreed to accept (EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli) Rehn's proposal,' Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told journalists.
'We will give our answer in the next 24 hours,' he added after a two-hour meeting with president Stjepan Mesic and the parliamentary parties.
Last month, Rehn proposed that sea and land borders be determined by an international arbitration panel of five judges chosen by Zagreb and Ljubljana.
Slovenia indicated earlier that it was unhappy about the proposal but Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar on Tuesday said that Slovenia was only 'cautious' about the proposal and was not rejecting it, Slovenian news agency STA reported.
The row between two countries dates back 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 access to the Adriatic Sea.
The row threatens Croatia's accession to the EU. Last December, Ljubljana blocked Zagreb's EU talks because of the dispute.
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