“Croatia expects… that Slovenia will reconsider its decision,” Sanader told journalists in Zagreb.
“If this doesn’t happen, the Slovene government will show exclusivism that is not in line with the principles of good neighbourly ties, solidarity and unity,” Sanader said, adding that the “blocking of 10 chapters . . . is a move without precedent in the history of the (EU) accession talks.”
“It is a bad decision for us, but it is also a very bad decision for relations between Croatia and Slovenia,” added Vesna Pusic, chairwoman of a Croatian parliament committee for monitoring EU accession talks.
“In the long term, it will have the most harmful effects on them,” Pusic warned.
Zagreb, which began talks to join the 27-member EU in October 2005, has opened 21 of the mandatory 35 policy negotiating chapters required for membership.
Over the last few months, Slovenia had warned Croatia not to present documents to Brussels ahead of the opening of new chapters that included maps and references to the common sea and land border, which the two countries have not yet agreed on.
On Wednesday, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said he was ready to block most of the discussions to prevent any “prejudging” of the long-running dispute.
“Slovenia will only give its consent to open one (EU accession) chapter and close three,” Pahor told journalists.
“Slovenia has reservations concerning seven chapters, since the documents presented by Croatia could prejudge the common border,” Pahor added after meeting the heads of all parliamentary parties, who agreed to the veto.
“And concerning another four chapters we also have substantial reservations,” he said.
Prior to Pahor’s announcement on Wednesday, Ljubljana had proposed that Croatia sign a paper giving strong guarantees that none of the documents presented during the accession talks could prejudge a solution of the border dispute.
“Ljubljana is interested in Croatia successfully concluding accession talks with the EU and we hope that our reserves will be cleared during the Czech EU presidency,” in the first half of 2009, Pahor noted.
But according to Slovenia, Croatia did not accept these conditions.
Last week, the Croatian government said it was prepared to agree not to submit any documents “that would prejudge in any way a solution for the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia.”
This pledge was to be made official by a joint statement from both Zagreb and Ljubljana, as well as the current French EU presidency, Croatian Premier Ivo Sanader said at the time.
The leader of the main opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), former prime minister Janez Jansa, announced ahead of Wednesday’s meeting: “There is nobody in Slovenia who would oppose (a veto to Croatia talks).”
The dispute over the land and sea border has harmed ties between Croatia and Slovenia since 1991, when the two former Yugoslav republics proclaimed independence.
Croatia accuses Slovenia of using the issue to block its talks on joining the European Union.
Slovenia, a member of the European bloc since 2004, claims Croatia is attempting to use its EU membership talks to impose a fait accompli on the border issue.
Croatia is hoping to join the 27-nation EU by 2011. It was invited to join NATO in April, while its full accession to the military alliance is expected next year.
Diplomats also say that Croatia’s EU bid is also weighed down by slow reforms of the judiciary, public administration and economy and the lack of concrete results in the fight against corruption and crime.
Some member states are also concerned about Zagreb’s cooperation with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
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