I can confirm that the Office of Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has received the Slovenian response, which we are going to analyse. For the time being, we have no meetings scheduled, Commission spokesman Amadeo Altafaj Tardio said at a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday.
Croatia unconditionally agreed to Rehn's proposal on 8 May and notified the European bloc's executive authorities of its response.
Slovenia makes its approval conditional on the acceptance of its amendments to Rehn's proposal and these changes alter the form of the proposal which was endorsed by Zagreb.
Although the contents of Slovenia's amendments have not been made available to the public, Slovenian media speculate that changes refer to Ljubljana's insistence on direct access to the open seas and the application of the principle of equity (ex aequo et bono which in Latin stands for "according to the right and good") in efforts to demarcate the sea border.
On the other hand, Croatia demands that the international law of the sea be applied in identifying the border.
On 22 April, Commissioner Rehn proposed that an ad hoc arbitration court be engaged in efforts to solve the two countries' border dispute.
A five-member arbitration court would in this case define the border on land and on sea in compliance with international law.
Regimes for use of maritime areas by Slovenia and Slovenia's contact with the open seas would be regulated in accordance with international law, the principle of equity and in the spirit of good neighbourliness.
The proposal suggested by Rehn is backed by the EU presidential troika: France, the Czech Republic and Sweden, as well as EU foreign ministers.