Our aim is to find a settlement and we are very close. We do not want to exert pressure on anybody, the same sources said.
At the invitation of the current Czech EU Presidency, just before the start of the ministerial meeting on Monday, the EU presidential troika consisting of officials of France, the Czech Republic and Sweden, will meet with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, who has been for several months searching for the solution to the Slovenian-Croatian border dispute and to models to unblock Croatia's EU entry, for talks on the European Commission's efforts to eliminate obstacles on Croatia's road towards the European bloc.
After talking to EU troika representatives, Rehn will meet with Foreign Ministers Gordan Jandrokovic of Croatia and Samuel Zbogar of Slovenia.
During a working dinner, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout and Commisisoner Rehn will update EU foreign ministers about the developments.
On Thursday, Rehn confirmed that he expected Croatia's EU accession negotiations to be unblocked soon and that he would consider this matter with the EU presidential troika and the foreign ministers of Slovenia and Croatia in Luxembourg on Monday.
We have been working six months to find a solution to the border issue and unblock Croatia's accession negotiations. We are now very close to the settlement of major issues, we have come a long way and I think it is high time to complete the process, Rehn said in Brussels on Thursday after meeting Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.
Swedish Ambassador to the EU, Christian Danielsson, whose country is the next chair of the 27-strong EU bloc, said in Brussels on Friday that his country strongly supported Rehn's endeavours in this regard.
This is a bilateral issue which, unfortunately, affects Croatia's accession negotiations. We support Rehn's efforts and we hope that this could be settled so that the matter would not impact the accession negotiations, the diplomat said.