"I expect progress in our job and in agreeing on a border regime when Croatia will join the EU and BiH will still be on its road to the EU," Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said ahead of the meeting.
Asked by the press if she had brought a project prepared for financing the future Peljesac bridge, she said the project had not been prepared but that there were "ideas and some estimates" as well as the possibility of drawing up a study that would consider every possible solution. "We'll discuss that at the very end, because today's meeting will focus on the regime that will go into force on July 1, 2013."
Bosnian Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija would not say if Sarajevo objected to the construction of the bridge, which would be a little lower than mentioned earlier, but said any solution would be "a matter of agreement between Zagreb and Sarajevo and then Brussels will certainly be with us."
He said that now it was important to solve all issues that needed solving before Croatia's EU accession and create prerequisites for solving long term issues.
The EC is represented at the meeting by Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malstroem, and Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli.
Asked to comment on talks between Croatian and Slovenian financial experts on the issue of Ljubljanska Banka's deposits to former Croatian clients, Pusic said the talks were proceeding well.
Asked if the issue could jeopardise Croatia's accession to the EU on July 1, she said: "I hope, for Croatia's and Slovenia's sake, that it won't."