EU Seeks Ahtisaari`s Help In Slovenia-Croatia Row

Diplomats say that, unless the dispute is resolved quickly, Croatia may fail in its goal to complete EU entry talks this year.

The European Union has turned to Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari to help solve a border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia that is blocking Croatia's bid to join the EU.

EU enlargement chief Olli Rehn has asked Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president and veteran diplomat, to chair a "senior expert group" to tackle the issue, European Commission spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy told a daily news briefing.

Diplomats say that, unless the dispute is resolved quickly, Croatia may fail in its goal to complete EU entry talks this year and join the 27-nation bloc in 2011.

Croatian and Slovenian media said Ahtisaari could be joined by high-profile French lawyer Robert Badinter -- who took part in defining the borders between ex-Yugoslav countries in 1991 -- and an unidentified third person.

Croatian President Stjepan Mesic welcomed the initiative, saying it could "help overcome the current deadlock, which does not serve the interests of either Croatia or Slovenia".

"This deadlock threatens to sour relations between Croatia and Slovenia in the longer term," said a statement from Mesic's office.

Mesic also said he expected Ljubljana to lift its veto on Croatia's EU accession talks after foreign experts start work.

Last month, EU member Slovenia blocked Croatia's progress by imposing a veto on opening and concluding a number of negotiating areas, citing a dispute over land and see borders which dates from the time they jointly quit Yugoslavia in 1991.

Ahtisaari won the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize for decades of peace-brokering around the globe, most recently in the former Serbian province of Kosovo.

Nagy said Croatia and Slovenia first needed to agree on the terms of negotiations with Ahtisaari's group.