Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said in Brussels on Monday that by the next European Union accession conference with Croatia, Ljubljana could remove its reservations regarding the opening of two of the three as yet blocked negotiation chapters.
"We are seeking a solution. We are in touch with Croatia as well aswith the European Commission," Zbogar told Slovenian reporters.
Asked if those reservations could be removed by the February 19 conference,Zbogar voiced hope that they could.
"We hope that's possible, although it's difficult to say at present. Wedon't have much time due to internal procedure. The (Slovenian and Croatian)prime ministers agreed in Kranjska Gora that they would attempt to find asolution. We don't have it yet," said Zbogar.
After meeting Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on January 13,Slovenian PM Borut Pahor said he would try to resolve at least two of the threecurrent issues, so that Slovenia would have no more reservations about theopening of negotiations on those three chapters.
Asked which chapters Croatia could open at the accession conference, Zbogarsaid those on the environment and fisheries.
Croatia still has not opened five chapters in its EU entry talks:Environment, Fisheries, Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, Judiciary andFundamental Rights, and Competition Policy.
The first three are technically ready for opening, but are waiting forSlovenia's consent.
The opening of the Judiciary and Fundamental Rights depends on a positiveassessment of the Hague war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor of the deliveryof documents from the 1995 military operation Storm, while the opening of theCompetition Policy chapter depends on an invitation for bids for theprivatisation of shipyards.
