Post by Bozur on Apr 5, 2009 3:10:56 GMT -5
Slovenia Faces Pressure to Smooth Croatia’s EU Talks
Bloomberg - Mar 28, 2009
EU foreign ministers met representatives of all Balkan countries today, trying to put the enlargement process back on track. The others at earlier stages of ...
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Slovenia Faces Pressure to Smooth Croatia’s EU Talks
By James G. Neuger and Leon Mangasarian
March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Slovenia came under pressure to lift its veto on a bid by neighboring Croatia to join the European Union, as concern mounted that the EU’s expansion to southeast Europe is stalling.
Slovenia, the only ex-Yugoslav republic in the EU, is blocking the entry talks, saying Croatia claims an unfair share of the waters off the coast of the Slovenian city of Piran.
“There’s no case for blocking,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters at an EU meeting in Hluboka nad Vltavou, Czech Republic today. “Bilateral disputes should not stand in the way of the operation of the European Union.”
Croatia’s logjam and unrelated clashes that are holding up the bids of the Republic of Macedonia and Serbia reflected the diminished support for expanding the EU as the bloc struggles through the deepest recession since World War II.
EU foreign ministers met representatives of all Balkan countries today, trying to put the enlargement process back on track. The others at earlier stages of the entry marathon are Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini spoke of “a stalemate on everything” and said it is time “to give the other countries in the western Balkans a positive message.”
Yugoslavia’s Demise
Slovenia’s border dispute, dating back to the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, throws a cloud over EU goals of completing Croatia’s entry talks this year so it can become an EU member by 2011.
“Disputes of this sort are bilateral,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. “We have lots of them, but they should not be allowed to block processes of this sort.”
Both sides are weighing proposals by EU mediators to defuse the dispute over the Adriatic Sea demarcation line in time for the next round of Croatia’s membership talks on April 24.
“I think there is movement,” Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said. “It’s going to be difficult for us -- probably for the two sides.”
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the two sides will respond by early next week to his latest proposal to restart Croatia’s bid, stalled since December. He said it is “still fully possible” for Croatia to wrap up the entry negotiations this year.
NATO Entry
Attempts by Slovenian nationalist groups to also block Croatia’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ran aground yesterday when a petition drive failed to get the necessary signatures. Croatia is now set to join NATO at an April 3-4 summit.
Also dimming prospects for further EU expansion is the bloc’s failure to enact a new governing treaty that would streamline its decision-making machinery so new countries can join. Hurdles remain for the new treaty in Ireland and the Czech Republic.
While French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said further expansion is impossible without the treaty, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb was more confident.
“This is a crisis management union -- we usually find a solution at the end of the day,” Stubb said.
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