Earlier in the day, Slovenia cancelled the 28 April meeting of the two heads of government which should have taken place in the Trakoscan Castle, northern Croatia, without providing any explanation for this move.
The Slovene national television said the meeting was cancelled due to Pahor's "unpostponable affairs abroad".
The Slovene national news agency STA quoted Pahor's office as saying that before meeting Sanader, Pahor wanted to consult with the Slovene political leadership about the latest proposal by European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn for a compromise solution to the Croatian-Slovene border dispute and unblocking of Croatia's EU accession negotiations.
After Rehn presented his latest proposal in Brussels on Wednesday, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Jandrokovic said that the proposal provided a good basis for a solution to the Croatian-Slovene border dispute.
"Rehn's proposal, which is supported by the Presidential Troika, is a good basis for seeking an acceptable solution and contains, to a large extent, well-known Croatian views, namely separation of Croatia's negotiating process from bilateral issues, unblocking of Croatia's accession negotiations and settlement of the border dispute in accordance with international law, before an international judicial body," Jandrokovic told reporters after a series of meetings held in Brussels yesterday.
The Slovene Foreign Ministry only said that it would study the proposal.
A source in the Czech Presidency of the 27-strong European bloc said that the EU Presidential Troika expressed its full support for the ongoing efforts by the Commissioner and that the two sides were now very close to reaching an agreement.
Rehn's proposal provides for ad-hoc arbitration involving five arbitrators -- one to be appointed by Slovenia and Croatia each and three by the European Commission who will tackle the settlement of the border dispute.
In case Slovenia and Croatia can't agree on candidates for the arbitration, they will be appointed by the president of the International Court of Justice.
According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, the proposal also includes elements of "constructive ambiguities", envisaging that the regime for the use of the marine areas and Slovenia's contact with the high seas would be defined in line with international law and the principle of equity and in the spirit of good neighbourly relations.
The proposal stipulates the unblocking of Croatia's EU membership talks immediately after the parliaments of the two neighbouring countries ratify an agreement on arbitration in a bid to solve the border dispute.
The two countries are expected to take positions on the proposal in the coming days, that is, in early May.
"The Czech EU Presidency has decided to postpone the accession intergovernmental conference with Croatia planned for Friday, April 24 since the stalemate in the accession talks resulting from the country's border dispute with Slovenia has not yet been resolved. A new date is to be set subject to positive development," the Czech EU Presidency said in a statement on Thursday.
The decision was made after the Presidency informed the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER), comprised of the member states' ambassadors, of the latest developments.
The Croatian government regards Commissioner Rehn's latest proposal as a great success of Croatian diplomacy because it seeks to find a solution based on international law.
A source in the government, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Hina that international law was the basis for identifying the borderline on the ground and at sea, but that the formulation "the regime for the use of marine areas and Slovenia's contact with the high seas" remained unclear.
The source said that the term "contact" should be clarified, explaining that such an ambiguous term had possibly been left in the proposal on purpose.
The source said that Croatia found it unacceptable that Slovenia should have any territorial contact with the high seas and that this would be in contravention of principles of international law.