Delo speculates about Janša reaching border deal with Croatia

Ljubljana – The newspaper Delo speculates about the possibility of Slovenia and Croatia reaching a deal on the border issue under the current government in Monday’s front-page commentary, finding that this could well be PM Janez Janša’s trump card in the next year’s election.

The paper notes that 12 years have passed since the then PMs Borut Pahor and Jadranka Kosor singed the border arbitration agreement, which led to Slovenia lifting its blockade of Croatia’s accession talks with the EU. In the summer of 2017, the arbitral tribunal declared the award, which Croatia refuses to recognise, while Slovenia also failed in its bid to get the EU Court to rule on the matter.

The paper notes that with the EU Court’s decision not to admit the case, time had come for quiet diplomacy.

“Three decades after the two countries became independent and 12 years after the ‘historic’ deal, after the many border incidents in the Bay of Piran and the long wait hours at the Schengen border with Croatia, politics may well try to make a step forward in a bid to tackle open issues between the two countries.

“More than 60% of citizens deem such a bid, a potential quiet trump card of the current government, highly important. If Janez Janša, who has already announced a new victory for his SDS, in fact succeeded in that in the year of Slovenia’s presidency of the Council of the EU, he would definitely score some additional points in the election. Given the current balance of power at the National Assembly, it will be hard for him to get another major idea through while the super election year 2022 is knocking on the door,” concludes the paper under the headline Janez Janša’s Quiet Trump Card.

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