"Slovenia is not blocking Croatia"

Slovenia has denied claims seen in Croatian media today that it is blocking Croatia’s efforts to enter the EU.

Izvor: B92

Friday, 26.11.2010.

12:47

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Slovenia has denied claims seen in Croatian media today that it is blocking Croatia’s efforts to enter the EU. Instead, official Ljubaljana said, they were only protecting their own interests. "Slovenia is not blocking Croatia" Milan Balazic, the spokesperson to the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Slovenia only wished to protect, within its negotiations with Croatia, what they consider to be their interests. The two countries were for years involved in border disputes which occasionally saw Slovenia hamper Croatia's EU membership efforts, but top officials reached an agreement to resolve the issues. “It’s a completely normal behavior of every EU member,” Balazic told RTV SLO television, and added that "we cannot talk of a blockade, but rather of a negotiating process". Responding reports in Croatian daily Jutarnji List that Slovenia was hindering the closing of at least two Croatian EU negotiating chapters, Balazic said that “Croatia should solve its own problems instead of looking for a foreign culprit”, rejecting the accusations. He also said that EU had officially confirms that the Croatian negotiations were in the final stage. At the same time, the Croatian newspaper writes that many diplomats were worried about “problems under the surface”, which could endanger the planned closing of Croatia's negotiations set to take place in mid-2011. According to the daily, the EU is worried about the privatization process of Croatian shipyards, because “certain things have not been inspected". "It is even worse that nobody in Croatia wants to clearly say that the tax payer money is used for those who generate losses,” said the report. This creates the impression that the EU is asking for Croatia to solve that issue "even though Croatia raised it" and the Croatian daily considers this approach to be "dishonest". At the same time, the results of the latest Gallup poll in Croatia showed that Croats consider Slovenia to be their biggest hurdle on the way towards joining the EU.

"Slovenia is not blocking Croatia"

Milan Balažic, the spokesperson to the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Slovenia only wished to protect, within its negotiations with Croatia, what they consider to be their interests.

The two countries were for years involved in border disputes which occasionally saw Slovenia hamper Croatia's EU membership efforts, but top officials reached an agreement to resolve the issues.

“It’s a completely normal behavior of every EU member,” Balažic told RTV SLO television, and added that "we cannot talk of a blockade, but rather of a negotiating process".

Responding reports in Croatian daily Jutarnji List that Slovenia was hindering the closing of at least two Croatian EU negotiating chapters, Balažic said that “Croatia should solve its own problems instead of looking for a foreign culprit”, rejecting the accusations.

He also said that EU had officially confirms that the Croatian negotiations were in the final stage.

At the same time, the Croatian newspaper writes that many diplomats were worried about “problems under the surface”, which could endanger the planned closing of Croatia's negotiations set to take place in mid-2011.

According to the daily, the EU is worried about the privatization process of Croatian shipyards, because “certain things have not been inspected".

"It is even worse that nobody in Croatia wants to clearly say that the tax payer money is used for those who generate losses,” said the report.

This creates the impression that the EU is asking for Croatia to solve that issue "even though Croatia raised it" and the Croatian daily considers this approach to be "dishonest".

At the same time, the results of the latest Gallup poll in Croatia showed that Croats consider Slovenia to be their biggest hurdle on the way towards joining the EU.

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