Eurasia Press & News
Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor and President Danilo Tuerk on Monday advocated the “balancing” of EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn’s proposal about solving the border dispute with Croatia. They announced changes to the text of the agreement the Croatian parliament had already adopted last week.
– If an agreement on arbitration is to be reached, then it must be a balanced agreement which will be acceptable to both sides – Pahor said after a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon who arrived to Slovenia for a two-day official visit.
Only by balancing the existing text on establishing an ad hoc arbitration, which Rehn suggests to Croatia and Slovenia in his new proposal, can a compromise solution be reached on the border, successfully putting an end to a dispute that has lasted for 18 years, Pahor said.
Meeting with parties a week after Croatia
At Tuesday’s meeting with presidents of parliamentary parties, Pahor will try to secure as much support to have Rehn’s proposal amended. A week ago, parties could not agree about the draft arbitration agreement. The country’s President Danilo Tuerk is also expected to attend the meeting.
Tuerk also spoke with French Prime Minister Fillon about the content of Rehn’s suggestion. According to a press release from Tuerk’s office, the Slovenian president also advocated a “balanced solution”.
Tuerk explained to his French guest that Slovenia advocated “as much balanced and mutually beneficial solutions” which would solve “the border issue with Croatia”, Tuerk’s office said in a statement.
If Pahor reaches agreement with parties or gets great support to the draft changes to Rehn’s initiative, the Slovenian government will deliberate on the changes on Thursday, the parliament’s foreign policy committee will discuss them on Friday and the response to the European Commission could be sent by the week’s end.
