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MEPs have urged Croatia to make progress on EU accession criteria but at the same time said that full membership will not be considered before the EU reforms its own institutions.

Croatia expects to join the EU as a full member in 2009, but MEPs on 25 April 2007 stressed that the current EU institutional framework (Nice Treaty) needs to be reformed before any further enlargements take place.

GA_googleCreateDomIframe('google_ads_div_nexttocontent' ,'nexttocontent'); GA_googleFillSlot("nexttocontent120x"); GA_googleCreateDomIframe('google_ads_div_nexttocontent120x' ,'nexttocontent120x'); Ljubljana - Slovenia's politicians - the ruling bloc, the opposition and the president - have found a rare occasion to stand united, with everyone stubbornly backing the decision to block the path of neighbouring Croatia into the European Union - despite Brussels' wishes. In a perennial row over where their common sea border meets the Adriatic coast, Slovenia - an EU member since 2004 - has stalled Croatia, which hopes to join in 2011. Most recently, Ljubljana effectively dismissed a proposal by EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn to resolve the stalemate by having international arbitration draw up the contested border. Croatia had already agreed to the proposal, but the Slovenian response - though wrapped prettily in diplomatic language - was effectively "no." Slovenia asked for amendments that were flatly rejected not only by Croatia but by the plan's author as well.

Slovenia and Croatia yesterday (18 June) shattered hopes that a long-standing border dispute was coming an end, blaming each other for the deadlock and leaving Brussels to deplore the development.

The European Commission said it regretted that Croatia and Slovenia had failed to make progress in talks on the settlement of their border row, underlining that it was a bilateral issue.  The talks had progressed well since January and there remained only a limited number of points to be settled, but the two sides yesterday failed to make progress on those points, says a brief statement issued by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn’s office. Rehn will now report to the current Czech and future Swedish EU Presidencies, it adds. 

NATO leaders gathered in Bucharest on Wednesday (2 April) agreed to admit two Balkan countries – Croatia and Albania – to the organisation, but an unsolved dispute between Skopje and Athens has delayed Macedonia's invitation.

Croatia and Albania also link NATO membership to their EU integration. "Membership in NATO will be a stimulus to our partners on the other side of the table to accept Croatia as a full member of the European Union", Croatian premier Ivo Sanader was quoted as saying by daily Javno on Thursday (3 April). For his part, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha told the Associated Press that joining NATO would represent for his country "the most important development since independence."

Speaking at a press conference with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on Tuesday (7 April), Jandrović said 2008 was a "crucial year in terms of the efforts needed to meet the criteria for membership". He hoped to complete two more benchmark chapters by the end of April and the rest by the end of the Slovenian EU Presidency.  Revealing that negotiations with Croatia have been "advancing well", Rehn expressed his confidence that the country would join the EU in 2010 provided that it met all the benchmarks by June 2008. 

Zagreb has accepted EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn's latest proposal aimed at solving the lengthy border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia, currently blocking Croatia's EU membership talks. "We will inform Olli Rehn in the next 24 hours. Essentially, we are accepting this proposal," Croatian president Stjepan Mesic said after a meeting with Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and the leaders of the political parties in Zagreb.

But while Croatia has accepted the proposal, Slovenia's reaction has been much more reserved. Ljubljana says it is still analysing it and will reply after 10 May. The heads of the country's political parties will meet on Wednesday, while the government is to discuss it on Thursday. "Consultations are ongoing... We don't see it as a ‘take it or leave it' proposal," one diplomatic source told EUobserver.

In a new setback to Croatia's EU bid, the Czech EU presidency on Wednesday (24 June) cancelled an EU-Croatia intergovernmental conference planned for 26 June due to a lack of progress in Croatia and Slovenia's border dispute which has been blocking Zagreb's EU accession talks for six months.

"Despite substantial efforts to facilitate a solution to the country's border dispute with Slovenia, Croatia's accession talks remain blocked and no new chapters can be formally opened or closed," the Czech presidency said in a statement.

Slovenia said Friday it was ready to lift its veto on neighbour Croatia's European Union accession talks immediately, after the two prime ministers agreed on how to solve an 18-year old border dispute."The government will immediately propose (to parliamentary committees) that Slovenia removes restraints for Croatia's EU negotiating process," Slovenia's Prime Minister Borut Pahor said after talks with his Croat counterpart Jadranka Kosor.The two committees met later Friday but said they needed more time to consider the issue. They are expected to decide on whether to allow Slovenia to lift the veto early next week.The news comes as a boost to Zagreb -- whose EU bid has been on ice for almost 10 months -- and other EU hopefuls in the Western Balkans, where bilateral disputes abound.Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU, welcomed the agreement and said Croatia can now continue EU accession talks.