Slovenian President Borut Pahor and member of the Croatian Parliament Jadranka Kosor met in Trakoscan Castle in Croatia on Wednesday to mark their landmark meeting here four years ago that had helped the two countries resume dialogue and remove an obstacle in Croatia's European Union accession process.
Kosor and Pahor met in Trakoscan on 31 July 2009 in their capacities as the prime ministers of their respective countries. They began dialogue that led to the signing of an arbitration agreement on a border dispute and to Slovenia lifting its reservations regarding the continuation of Croatian EU accession negotiations.
Unveiling a memorial marking their 2009 meeting, Pahor said that the meeting laid the foundation for building firm trust and for resolving problems between the two countries, while Kosor said that it paved the way for dialogue that made it possible for Croatia to complete its accession process and to join the European Union.
The memorial features a photograph of Pahor and Kosor at the meeting and a caption saying that the two prime ministers met there for the first time on 31 July 2009.
Kosor and Pahor agreed in their assessment that the initial meeting had taken place in a difficult atmosphere when Slovenia was blocking 14 of the 35 negotiation chapters concerning Croatia's accession to the EU, with outstanding border issues and a serious risk of the situation escalating in security terms.
Pahor said that the crucial point was to establish mutual trust, first and foremost personal trust between Kosor and himself, and then between the two governments. He noted that the unresolved border issues and the blockade of accession negotiations needed to be dealt with simultaneously, rather than one issue at a time.
Kosor said that, although no formal decision had been made at the time, the Trakoscan meeting marked an agreement between the two parties on a new way of resolving problems. It was agreed that the two parties would not inform the public of the negotiating process until a final agreement was reached. "That was quiet diplomacy at work, rather than secret diplomacy," Kosor said.
Kosor said that shortly before the Trakoscan meeting, in a conversation with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso she was told that Croatia and Slovenia needed to reach an agreement by themselves or else Croatia would not be able to continue and conclude its negotiations on EU membership.
Kosor said that the agreement reached was the best possible one, as shown by the statement by Pope Benedict XVI that the border agreement between Croatia and Slovenia should serve as an example to other countries of how to deal with similar issues.
After the first meeting between the two prime ministers not many believed in a quick and positive outcome, even though Pahor said at a press conference then that an agreement would be reached by Christmas that year. The agreement was in fact signed a month earlier in Stockholm, making it possible for Croatia to resume its EU accession negotiations.
When asked by the press if their meetings in Trakoscan would become traditional, Pahor said it was unlikely because today's meeting was organised as part of events marking Croatia's EU entry. Kosor disagreed, saying in jest that negotiations on this matter were yet to begin.
Today's meeting was organised at the initiative of two adjacent border municipalities, Videm in Slovenia and Bednja in Croatia.
