Croatia Wins, Rehn Refuses Slovenian Amendments

Rehn wants the land and sea borders to be solved separately. Slovenia’s ForMin says this is a new proposal that needs discussing.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – EU’s commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, and Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers Gordan Jandrokovic and Samuel Zbogar met in Luxembourg on Monday. It was the tenth meeting they had to solve the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia.

The Slovenian media have published a text of Rehn’s new proposal and underlined Croatia as the victor of the negotiations. On the other hand, Zbogar tried to refute claims that Rehn did not accept Slovenia’s amendments to his previous proposal. Slovenia’s demand for the principle of ancient rights was dismissed, with the principle of good neighbourly relations remaining. Also, Rehn thinks that the signatures of prime ministers is enough and that the agreement does not have to be adopted by both parliaments before Croatia’s accession negotiations with the EU are unblocked.

The border on land and sea would be solved separately and among the five arbitration judges, none would come from The Hague. Croatia’s Jandrokovic, however, was still not optimistic. He said they did not come to an agreement because neither side wanted to back down from their requests.

- We agreed to continue negotiating about this in the days ahead and to try and find a solution in the European spirit – Jandrokovic said.

A commentator of Slovenia’s Delo daily wrote that Rehn’s new proposal needs to be thought out through well, regardless of who is in a hurry. And Croatia is in a hurry, he writes, because it has not opened a single chapter in negotiations with the EU since December.

New meeting on Wednesday 

Commissioner Rehn voiced some of his creative thoughts, but we agreed to continue discussing it in the days ahead and to try and find a solution in the spirit of Europe, in accordance with European principles, before or during the session of the European Council which is taking place on Thursday or Friday.

Gordan Jandrokovic

Rehn said that he could meet the Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers again on Wednesday.

It is interesting that after the meeting, Jandrokovic said that Rehn had communicated his opinions, while Zbogar claims Rehn came out with a new proposal.

Zbogar concluded that Rehn’s changes to his previous draft agreement on arbitration is a step forward in the right direction.

- Of course, we will have to conduct political and legal consultations in Slovenia – Zbogar said.

He said that Rehn never mentioned the principled of ancient rights, but it was included in content in the proposal that needs to be looked at as a whole, since several items of the proposed agreement had been suggested.

Little time for consults, Rehn expects a response 

- I think we are nearing the last act, although this proposal by commissioner Rehn is not necessarily the last. I think that there is not much more space for new proposals, but I don’t believe that two days will be enough for us to conduct the necessary consults – Zbogar said. He also added that Slovenia will not back down from its demand to the right to exit to the open sea.

- If the current Rehn’s initiative was to fail and there is no arbitration agreement, then a break in solving the border issue would occur and things would go back to square one because Croatia would again have to find a solution to withdraw the contentious accession documentation with which it prejudged the border – Zbogar said.

He stressed that Rehn’s proposals prove that the previous draft was not based on the principle “take it or leave it”. However, he said there is very little time for consults.

- The timeframe is very narrow. For such an important issue we should have more time for consults – Zbogar said.

France’s state secretary for Europe, Bruno le Maire, explained Rehn’s new proposal, saying that Rehn presented a slightly altered proposal with which now Croatia, which accepted his earlier proposal, is having problems. Some European diplomats believe that a solution could be found eventually with small changes that would not change the essence of the proposal.

But for some European leaders, the so-called Croatian artillery logs are a problem. Before the meeting between Rehn, Jandrokovic and Zbogar, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn warned that Chapter 23 in Croatia’s accession negotiations could stay closed for a long time due to the poor condition of Croatia’s judiciary.