The European Union will mediate the border dispute that has stymied all progress in Croatia's accession talks with the bloc, news agencies reported. Croatia's prime minister Ivo Sanader was quoted as saying on March 9 that Zagreb would accept the EU mediation offer, but insisted that his government still wanted the issue solved in an international court.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn will meet with the Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers in Brussels on March 10, Rehn told a news briefing.

"We are studying the details of both Croatian and Slovenian positions and of course this kind of European facilitation would be based on international law and jurisprudence," Rehn said, as quoted by AFP.

Slovenia vetoed one third of the accession chapters under negotiation in December 2008, arguing that Croatia had submitted documents to Brussels that were prejudicial to the border dispute.

The dispute goes back to 1991, when the two republics declared their independence from Yugoslavia. Should Zagreb meet Ljubljana's demands, it would have to cede some of its off-shore waters, giving Slovenia direct access to international waters.

"What we now need to do is, together with the European Commission, look into the mandate of the (mediators), because we are accepting it, with the aim to go before the international court to resolve this long-standing border row," Sanader said, as quoted by Reuters.

Slovenia has so far refused the demands that the case is heard in an international court, nor does it plan to lift its veto immediately, according to foreign minister Samuel Zbogar, as quoted by Reuters.
"The conditions Croatia has given narrow the possibilities to start mediation. We must now wait for Commissioner Rehn's reaction...and for Croatia's explanations," he said.