Posselt was speaking to Croatian journalists before a vote at a plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg next week on the report on Croatia's progress towards EU membership.
I think the resolution will ask both parties to find a bilateral solution to that issue before Slovenia assumes the EU presidency on January 1, 2008, but it should be made clear that we accepted Slovenia as a member before it had resolved its border problem with Italy and so it has no right to block Croatia, Posselt said.
The European Parliament will be discussing the draft resolution that was adopted by the Foreign Affairs Committee on March 27. The Foreign Affairs Committee's report is very positive for Croatia, but has been overshadowed by the fact that some of the amendments citing the possibility of arbitration in the event that Croatia and Slovenia fail to resolve the border issue bilaterally, did not pass.
The report mentioned 2009 as the year in which the European Parliament might approve Croatia's accession to the bloc.
Croatia should do all it can to implement the necessary reforms with a view to completing the negotiations in time, so that the European Parliament could give its consent before the next European parliamentary elections in June 2009, the report said.
Posselt described this as success, saying that last year this became the official position of the EPP-ED, the largest political group in the European Parliament.
The deadline for submitting amendments to the draft resolution expires at 18:00 hours today. The resolution will be discussed in the European Parliament on April 25 and put to the vote next day.
Posselt said that his group would propose seven amendments to improve some parts of the text. The EPP would request deleting a part of the text expressing concern about efforts by the Croatian government to become "amicus curiae" (a friend of court) in the trial of three Croatian army generals before the Hague war crimes tribunal.
I don't accept the part of the report saying that Croatia and its government should be criticised for trying to become "amicus curiae" in the Gotovina case. That's part of normal procedure before the tribunal and it's not even topical now. I think we should delete that part, because it's not fair and has nothing to do with Croatia's membership in the EU or with the progress report. It's just a kind of propaganda, Posselt said.
Posselt added that should that part remain in the text of the resolution he would make a statement on behalf of the EPP rejecting it.