European Parliament President Tajani commented on open issues between the two countries.
President of European Parliament Antonio Tajani said in Ljubljana that Croatia and Slovenia should reach a good agreement when it comes to the their border dispute. As far as the dispute over the Terrano wine, he pointed out that the European Commission was the relevant body to solve that dispute, reports tportal.hr on March 4, 2017.
Tajani was in Ljubljana together with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. They and Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar opened the EU House in Ljubljana, where representation of the European Commission in Slovenia and the information office of the European Parliament will be located.
Tajani said in an interview for a Slovenian television station that the issue of the border dispute should be resolved by the two countries. “Croatia and Slovenia are two members of the European Union and important countries of the Western Balkans and they should reach a good agreement on that issue”, said Tajani.
As for the dispute between the two countries about the Terrano wine, he said that he could not comment on the issue, because the European Commission was the relevant body.
With his remarks, Tajani showed much more restraint in responding to questions on the Slovenian-Croatian controversies compared to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Juncker said a few days ago that “whenever there are tensions, I advocate for a dialogue and that is why the European Commission supports the arbitration process between Croatia and Slovenia, since it is in the interest of both sides and in the interest of smooth and effective implementation of EU legislation”. He also said that Croatia had voluntarily entered into that agreement with Slovenia and that he hoped that both sides would respect the decision of the arbitration tribunal in full and without any preconditions. Croatia has left the arbitration proceedings after it was discovered that Slovenian officials were colluding with an arbitrator. It has announced that it would not accept any arbitration decision, which is expected to come later this year. Juncker’s statement draw strong criticism from Croatian officials.
Juncker also said that the claims made by Slovenian winemakers, that Croatia used forged documents in supporting its claim on the Terrano wine, should be checked. The European Commission recently adopted a compromise solution which would allow the sale of Terrano wine in the single European market for Croatian winemakers, although Slovenia had earlier protected the wine’s geographical origin.
Juncker did not rule out the possibility that the revision of the Commission's decision could be discussed, if Slovenian winemakers prove their allegations.
