NEWS

Prime Minister Pahor: The Winner is Dialogue

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, today met with the Croatian Prime Minister, Ms Jadranka Kosor, with whom he reached agreement on settlement of the border dispute and the continuation of Croatian accession negotiations. The agreement is the result of a dialogue launched on 31 July this year in Trakošćan Castle. "The winner of this difficult yet successful work is dialogue, but the two countries are also winners," said Prime Minister Pahor in his statement to the press after the meeting and expressed his belief that the result of these endeavours would be of benefit to both countries.

 

Mr Pahor went on to say that the following two objectives were agreed with the Croatian Prime Minister: the continuation of Croatia's accession negotiations for EU membership through the withdrawal of Slovenia's reservations and the settlement of the border dispute by way of EU mediation. He added that the Croatian Prime Minister, Ms Kosor, had already communicated a statement to the EU Presidency that "no document, position, written or oral statement within the framework of the negotiation process shall prejudice the final determination of the border."

 

(Foto: Bor Slana/Bobo)

  

The Croatian Prime Minister also expressed her satisfaction with the successful and intensive talks in the past month, as well as with the results achieved by these talks. "I believe that today's talks have proved that it is possible do discuss any problem and to overcome any barrier," said Ms Kosor and went on to say that this day was of extreme significance for a new chapter in Slovene-Croatian relations.

 

"The letter also includes agreement that the border dispute will be settled by way of international arbitration, as proposed by the European Commission, and that negotiations will proceed from the point at which they were suspended on 15 June 2009," added Prime Minister Pahor. Through this agreement, Croatia has committed itself to settle the border dispute in accordance with the principle tasks of the Accession Partnership for Croatia and by the understanding that agreement on the method of settling this dispute will be reached before the vote on accession treaty takes place in the Slovenian National Assembly. Mr Pahor also said that the Slovenian Government unanimously adopted a proposal yesterday that on the fulfilment of all these conditions, it would propose to the Committee on Foreign Policy and the Committee on EU Affairs to withdraw all reservations concerning Croatia's negotiations for EU membership. 

 

(Foto: Daniel Novakovič/STA)

  

Concluding his statement, the Slovenian Prime Minister especially emphasised that "in the case of success, meaning that if the Committee on Foreign Policy and the Committee on EU Affairs give majority support to the decision of the Slovenian Government that the Croatia-EU accession conference takes place as soon as possible, negotiations on the border dispute settlement will continue simultaneously". Mr Pahor said finally that "these circumstances indeed enable us to open a new chapter in relations between Slovenia and Croatia" and specifically stressed the urgency of intensifying bilateral economic cooperation.