The European Union said it has not given up trying to find a compromise solution to the obscure border row between Slovenia and Croatia which has belatedly stymied Croatia’s bid to join the EU, the bloc’s enlargement commissioner said. “We are so close to an agreement that it makes no sense to give up since we have almost reached the goal. What matters is an agreement between both countries,” Olli Rehn told journalists in Brussels. The row concerns the exact location of the maritime border between the neighbours.

Croatia insists that the border be drawn down the middle of the Bay of Piran, but Slovenia says that this would cut it off completely from international waters, and insists that it be given more than half the bay. Rehn was speaking after Slovenia, which joined the EU in 2004, effectively dismissed his proposal to solve the border dispute by international arbitration, and meanwhile press ahead with Croatia’s EU accession. Rehn said he and the analysts of the European Commission - the EU’s executive – are expecting a version from Slovenia and would “study it carefully.”

And while Rehn had initially said that his compromise proposal was a “last offer” from Brussels, he said that he expected “further meetings to take place in the future” on the issue. Slovenia warned that it could not accept without amendments a European Union mediation proposal in the ongoing dispute with neighbouring Croatia over its accession to the bloc. The pair have been at loggerheads for months in an obscure row over their joint border at the Bay of Piran, which is threatening to hold up Croatia’s bid to join Brussels. “I hope that (EU Enlargement) Commissioner (Olli) Rehn will take into account our amendments. Otherwise we will not accept his proposal,” Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor told journalists, without giving any details. The Foreign Affairs committee of the Slovenian parliament was expected to approve the government’s decision, after which Slovenia will present its amendments to Brussels.

NO ACCESS TO THE SEA
For six months now. Slovenia - an EU member - has been blocking Croatia’s accession talks with EU over a long-standing dispute dating from the break up of former Yugoslavia in 1991. The border row has left Slovenia landlocked with its access to high seas cut off by Italy and Croatia. Rehn proposed to resolve the dispute by a five-nation arbitration court. The Croatian parliament agreed to Rehn’s proposal, but Slovenia remained cautious. Earlier, the Slovenian government and members of the opposition agreed that changes in Rehn’s proposal are necessary and that final decision should not be based only on international law but should take into account “historical rights” and equality principles.

Croatia has more than 1,000 kilometres of coasts while Slovenia less than 50 but Zagreb refuses to move the border on the southern part of Bay of Piran and so allow free access of Slovenian ships to the sea. The dispute has given - Slovenia’s politicians - the ruling bloc, the opposition and the president - have found a rare occasion to stand united, with everyone stubbornly backing the decision to block the path of neighbouring Croatia into the European Union - despite Brussels’ wishes. Croatia wants to join in 2011, but Slovenia is blocking it the same way Croatia is blocking Slovenia’s access to the sea.

Croatia had agreed to the Rehn’s proposal for arbitration. Slovenia asked for amendments that were flatly rejected not only by Croatia but by the plan’s author as well. Rehn had hoped Slovenia would allow the negotiations with Zagreb to resume once the arbitration was agreed. Slovenia instead continued to block Croatia’s accession talks. There is no historical background on which to base a border claim as the two nations have never been independent or had shared borders until the disintegration of Yugoslavia began in 1991. Slovenia, with barely 50 kilometres of coastline squeezed between Italy and Croatia, wants two-thirds of the bay, instead of sharing it right down the middle with Croatia.

Slovenia has no direct access to high seas, with shipping having to go through Italian and Croatian waters, which politicians in Ljubljana say is a national disaster. Slovenians worry that the absence of a path to international waters would hamper the port Koper, a major transport hub and a big part of the national economy. Much of the transport that Koper may lose is likely to go through Croatia’s largest port, Rijeka, just 60 kilometres away by road or rail. “Koper is Slovenia’s door to the world,” nationalist leader Zmago Jelinic told Deutsche-Presse- Agentur (dpa,) reflecting the general position in the country. For Croatia, the issue is also one of national dignity, with leaders there repeating the mantra that they will never sign away a speck of land (or drop of water), even at the cost of EU accession.