Croatia hopes for Slovenia border deal soon

(ZAGREB) - Croatia hopes to reach an agreement soon with Slovenia to end a border dispute that held up its bid to join the European Union, the Croatian prime minister said Monday.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said after meeting with Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor on the sidelines of a bilateral economic forum that they would now talk to their advisors on getting a deal through international arbitration.

"I am convinced that we will successfully pass through the last portion of this path and afterwards ... I will demand and get the support of the Croatian parliament to initiate and sign the agreement," Kosor told reporters.

Earlier this month Croatia resumed its EU membership talks after Slovenia, an EU member, ended a 10-month block of the negotiations because of the border dispute.

The two countries have agreed to solve the issue through international arbitration.

"We are facing a key moment where there are two possibilities," Pahor said.

"Either both politics, both countries, both people will see and find a mutual interest that would lead us to a stability or they will find only differences in views of the two countries.

"The latter will lead us into conflicts, an instable situation," he said.

The row involving a small piece of land and sea dates back to 1991, when both countries proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia.

Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and Croatia had hoped to become the bloc's 28th member by 2011, but that timetable has been under a cloud.