Slovenia
External Relations
The Copenhagen Summit, the vote in the European Parliament on 9 April 2003 and the signing of the European Union Accession Treaty on 16 April 2003 were the last steps towards the accomplishment of one of Slovenia’s primary foreign policy objectives- becoming a member of the European Union. Slovenia was among the countries that backed the EU position on ICC. As a result Slovenia, was cut off its US foreign military funding.
With the received invitation to join NATO at the Prague Summit, Slovenia accomplished another of its strategic foreign policy objectives, and is set to become full NATO member in the spring of 2004.
Slovenia continues to contribute forces to SFOR and KFOR and is expected to make a significant increase in its SFOR contribution later in 2003. Slovenia also participates in a range of activities concerned with regional cooperation, including CENCOOP and SEDM. Bilateral cooperation with NATO and PfP member states is wide ranging, including training courses and joint exercises, both in Slovenia and abroad.
There are unresolved issues between Slovenia and Croatia that obstruct the development of their relations. The key issue is the regulation of the borders within the Piran Bay. Under the draft agreement signed in 2001, 80 percent of the bay would be given to Slovenia, with Croatia receiving the remainder (including several villages) in order to maintain the continuity of its sea border with Italy. Croatia would open up a corridor for Slovenia to ensure its access to international waters. However, the parliaments of the countries are far from ratifying the agreement. In the summer of 2003, Croatia adopted a new unilateral approach, announcing its plans to establish an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), denying Slovenia access to international waters by several kilometres.
Another hot issue between the two countries is the management of the Krsko nuclear plant. It was built close to the border in Slovenia as part of a Slovene- Croat partnership within Yugoslavia. The parliaments of the two countries ratified a Croat- Slovenian agreement that regulates the debated issues. Under the provisions of the document, Croatia would be supplied with half of the Krsko plant’s produced electricity as of 1 July 2002. This, however, was not accomplished and a Croatian-Slovene commission for the Krsko nuclear power plant is to convene for a regular session in September 2003 to discuss Croatia's claim for the payment of 53.6m dollars in damages. As to another problem in the bilateral relations- the issue of savings deposits of Croatian citizens in a former Slovene bank [Ljubljanska Banka], the two sides will try to settle it on two tracks - on one side they will look for concrete solutions for the deposit-holders and on the other side they will try to find a complex solution to the entire issue of foreign currency savings within the succession to the former Yugoslavia debate.
Slovenia actively participates in different regional initiatives - Central European initiative, Adriatic- Ionian Initiative, Quadrilateral Initiative and the Alps- Adriatic Working Community.