The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, this afternoon held a meeting on relations between Slovenia and Croatia with the presidents of the Slovenian parliamentary parties. After the meeting, PM Janša reported he had informed his colleagues of the work carried out by the commissions set up on the basis of talks held by the parliamentary parties last autumn.

 

(Photo: Bor Slana/Bobo)

 

The first commission has been compiling records concerning the points at issue along the border between Slovenia and Croatia, noted the Prime Minister, while the second commission has been drafting Slovenia’s proposal on the issue to be submitted to a third party. It was established at today’s meeting that a two-month delay had arisen on account of the elections held in Croatia and the enforcement of the Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone that had been in conflict with the agreement between the European Commission, Slovenia and Italy. “Until this barrier was removed, it was not possible for the commissions to continue their work,” said the Prime Minister, adding that after the revocation of the applicability of the zone to EU Member States, the presidents of both commissions had met and agreed on the future work of their commissions.

 

PM Janez Janša announced that the presidents of parliamentary parties would meet again after the first session of the joint commission of international legal experts. “The meeting will clarify whether, further down the path we opted to take last autumn, solutions can be expected in real time,” said PM Janša. He added that it had been agreed today that the work of the commission given the task of defining the contested border points between Slovenia and Croatia was a constructive contribution, since defining the points would enable the Brioni Declaration on the avoidance of incidents and on respect for the state of affairs applicable on 25 June 1991 to take effect.