Croatian and Slovenian prime ministers will discuss the border arbitration dispute.
Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar will arrive in Zagreb on Tuesday to continue talks on finding a solution to the border issue, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced in Brussels, where he spoke with Cerar for more than an hour at the end of a two-day EU summit and managed to persuade him to finally come to Zagreb, which Cerar had refused without Plenković’s promise they would discuss the implementation of the border arbitration decision, reports Večernji List on December 16, 2017.
Asked by reporters whether he promised Cerar that and whether that was the reason why Cerar had now agreed to come to Zagreb, Plenković replied that “there were no such promises made.”
“It is important to demonstrate that we are mature, responsible countries that understand the positions of both Ljubljana and Zagreb, but also want to look for solutions to the border issue. And this was the key to the today’s conversation and the background for talks in Zagreb on Tuesday,” Prime Minister Plenković said.
What happened at a meeting in Brussels to achieve this breakthrough? “It is important to maintain the cooperative atmosphere in this dialogue. This would prevent one-sided moves and incidents. The general atmosphere is a prerequisite for seeking a solution to the border issue,” said Plenković.
After the meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday, Plenković expects experts to continue with a technical dialogue that will focus more on the border issue details. However, the meeting in Zagreb will be a “step closer to that,”, to a solution for the problem stemming from the fact that the arbitration tribunal made a decision which Croatia has not accepted because it claims that Slovenia contaminated the arbitration procedure.
“The serious partnership dialogue is the only possible solution. Slovenia and Croatia are two countries that have had no conflicts in their past. There is no reason not to solve this residual issue stemming from the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia in a way that will be mature, civilised and appropriate for EU member states. And, how long will this process last, that is difficult to say at this time. It is important that we are doing everything we can to proceed with this process,” said Plenković.
Translated from Večernji List.
