Croatia EU talks to resume in October

(ZAGREB) - The EU presidency has informed Croatia that membership talks would resume in October after Slovenia lifted its blockade over a border row, the government said on Wednesday.

Sweden, the current EU president, will convene an inter-government conference on October 2 to continue Croatia's EU accession talks," a government statement said, citing a letter from Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to Croat counterpart Jadranka Kosor.

Slovenia had blocked Croatia's EU negotiations since December because of a dispute over a small portion of sea and land, which dates back to 1991, when both countries proclaimed independence from the former Yugoslavia.

Ljubljana had demanded guarantees on access to its territorial waters and refused to open any new negotiation chapters out of the 35 chapters that all candidates must complete to join the EU.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor reached a deal with Kosor this month to lift his country's veto on Croatia's EU membership talks, as part of a compromise to settle the border dispute.

Kosor said it had been agreed that the two countries would either forward a border row to an arbitrary tribunal or reach a bilateral agreement.

"The continuation of the negotiations between Croatia and Slovenia on the border dispute shall be convened simultaneously with the intergovernmental conference," the statement quoted Reinfeldt's letter as saying.

Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and Croatia had hoped to become the EU's 28th member by 2011.