Ljubljana, September 19, 2009 Slovenia on Friday (11 September) announced that the long-standing border dispute with its neighbor Croatia should not be a barrier to Croatia's adhesion to the European Union, unblocking a dispute that had remained unresolved since 1991.

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and Slovene Prime Minister Borut Pahor met in Ljubljana on Friday morning.

"The Slovenian government will propose to [the] parliament's foreign policy and EU affairs committee that Slovenia withdraw its blocking of Croatia's EU accession negotiations," the two leaders said in a joint statement following the discussions.

Ms Kosor, for her part, has sent a letter to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency, saying that Croatia will remove all contentious documents from its negotiating chapters with the EU.

"I just faxed a letter to the Swedish presidency where I said clearly that we reached an agreement on the continuation of talks with the EU and continuation of the border talks. No document can be prejudicial to the final border solution," said the Croatian leader.

Negotiations over the border dispute will now take place with the aid of international mediation, a move originally suggested by the European Commission.

Mr. Reinfeldt welcomed the agreement in a statement, congratulating the two sides for overcoming the stalemate. "Prime Ministers Kosor and Pahor have shown European leadership in breaking a difficult deadlock," he said.

"This agreement underlines the strength of the European integration process and the virtue of dialogue. It will promote regional stability and serves as a model for the western Balkans as a whole."

Slovenia and Croatia have been unable to agree on their common land and sea border since the two countries declared independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991.

Last December, Slovenia blocked Croatia's accession negotiations over the issue.

Rights to a patch of the Adriatic Sea close to the Slovenian city of Piran that Slovenia argues would secure its ships direct access to international waters has proved especially controversial.

Source: EUobserver.com, September 12, 2009.

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