Slovenia Blocks Another Chapter in Croatia’s EU Negotiations

Slovenia decided on Tuesday at a meeting of the EU Council’s working group on enlargement to block another chapter in negotiations with Croatia, Hina learns from European diplomatic sources.

At the working group meeting on Tuesday afternoon, 26 member states gave their consent to close the chapter on Company Law, but Slovenia was against it, arguing that Croatia prejudices borders even in this chapter. This chapter was opened back in June 2007, and Slovenia had no objections at that time. The opening and closing of negotiation chapters is first discussed in the EU Council’s working group on enlargement, and then forwarded to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of Member States (COREPER).

At the last Intergovernmental Conference on Accession held on December 19, 2008, Slovenia blocked the opening of eight and the closing of two chapters. Now, another chapter has been added to that list, which had never been mentioned as contentious before. The chapter on Company Law is purely a technical chapter that encompasses company law in a narrower sense, namely the rules on establishment, registration, mergers, and divisions of companies, as well as accounting and auditing.

The Czech presidency has scheduled the next Intergovernmental Conference on Accession with Croatia for March 27, and at this moment, its holding is questionable if no turnaround occurs in the meantime. The European Commission offered assistance in January to involve a group of experts led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari in resolving the bilateral border issue between Slovenia and Croatia and continuing Croatia’s accession negotiations. For this group to start working, the two countries must agree on its mandate, which is still under consultation. The meeting between Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and Borut Pahor on Tuesday in Mokrice, after which a new blockage occurred in the working group, did not lead to a rapprochement of positions.

From the very beginning, Croatia insists on the fact that the border dispute is a bilateral issue, unresolved since the acquisition of independence by Slovenia and Croatia, and that such issues have never been the subject of accession negotiations in EU history. Croatia demands that this issue be removed from the agenda of EU membership negotiations and that the International Court of Justice in The Hague or any international judicial institution make a decision on the dispute, with both states committing in advance to respect the court’s ruling.

For Slovenia, going to court is not an acceptable option, as it does not want the dispute to be resolved solely according to the provisions of international law, but requires that the issue be resolved by a political decision, bilaterally or with mediation, based on the concept of “fairness,” rather than law. The neighboring state also seeks for this issue to be resolved in such a manner by the end of this year, before Croatia enters the EU. (Hina)