ZAGREB, CROATIA – The European Commission expects Croatia and Slovenia to accept the offer of help from a group of mediators to solve the border dispute and unblocking Croatia’s accession negotiations with the EU, the European Union’s commissioner for enlargement, Olli Rehn, said on Slovenian television on Thursday night.

Better sooner than later 

We expect a constructive cooperation in the European spirit and spirit of good neighbourly relations, a stance directed towards the future, not the past – Rehn said.

He did not want to directly answer the question about what he thought of Slovenia’s view that the border issue should be solved before Croatia enters the European Union, nor did he say whether he expected Slovenia to immediately unblock Croatia’s accession negotiations as soon as it accepts the work of the mediation group.

It is the stance of the European Commission that this is a bilateral issue which should be treated so, but this issue has now become a European issue, although it is not directly connected with negotiations or Croatia’s joining the EU, Rehn said.

He added that the mandate and goals of the assistance offered by the European Commission would be set in dialogue with both countries.

However, Rehn said it would be better that the dispute is solved sooner rather than later, although he refused to answer whether the issue should be solved before Croatia entered the European Union. Also, he did not clearly respond whether the mediators would, as Slovenia expects, provide a suggestion on how to solve the border issue, that is, determine the border line in the part which both sides consider contentious.