The president of the Slovenian National Assembly, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, called for a new candid attempt to resolve outstanding issues with Croatia as she visited Zagreb on 3 and 4 December.

The visit, during which Klakočar Zupančič met with the neighbouring country's top officials, reaffirmed the excellent relationship between the two countries despite the long-standing open issues that the two governments decided to sideline in favour of areas where they can cooperate.

"I would like for the countries to step up talks on open issues that can be acute for the population, in particular in border areas," Klakočar Zupančič said after meeting her counterpart Gordan Jandroković for the third time in 15 months.

The two parliaments have enhanced their cooperation in the past 15 months and now both speakers pledged to intensify it further, while also agreeing to encourage the two governments to start addressing the issues in order to make progress.

"I see stagnation in open bilateral issues, which are admittedly complex. These are things that have been dragging on for years and have not produced satisfactory results for either side," Klakočar Zupančič said as she arrived in Zagreb.

She mentioned the border and issues stemming from succession to the former Yugoslavia, which she said "leave a bitter aftertaste among the people directly or indirectly affected by them."

Border dispute on hold

Discussion of these issues has been on hold for some time and during his visit to Zagreb in July last year, Prime Minister Robert Golob said the border dispute must be taken off the agenda of day-to-day politics because it was poisoning the relations.

The border dispute remains unresolved because Croatia refuses to recognise the border as determined by an arbitration tribunal in 2017.

It has been affecting fishermen in particular, which have received compensation from the Slovenian government for loss of income for being unable to fish in waters awarded to Slovenia.

Parliaments to encourage governments to seek compromise

Addressing reporters with Jandroković, Klakočar Zupančič said they both wished for Slovenia and Croatia to truly show themselves as countries that can talk and work out compromises. "I believe this visit will be followed by a more concrete action," she said.

Jandroković backed her up in the desire to support the two governments to step up cooperation in all areas of common interest. Both noted the exceptionally good bilateral economic and cultural cooperation.

As evidence Jandroković noted the volume of bilateral goods trade, which topped €7 billion last year, the foreign direct investments between the two countries and the fact that Slovenians rank as the second largest group of visitors to Croatia.

The National Assembly president also met Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović with the latter labelling Slovenia as Croatia's best neighbour.

"Friendly relations between Croatia and Slovenia are of exceptional importance, as it is what our people on both sides of the border, who have always lived in harmony, expect," he said.

The main topic of the meeting with Plenković was mutual show of solidarity between the countries in response to natural disasters, as well as the need to secure renewable sources of energy and cooperate in the field.

They agreed that dialogue should continue to resolve open issues so they would not burden future generations, Klakočar Zupančič's press office said.

Pledge to advance minority issues

Issues of concern to the Slovenian community in Croatia and the Croatian community in Slovenia also ranked prominently during the visit.

Meeting representatives of the Slovenian community in Zagreb on 3 December, Klakočar Zupančič thanked the associations for their efforts.

The Slovenian community has been aspiring for decades that the Slovenian Home, which has been around for 95 years, becomes owner of the premises in Zagreb where it operates.

Klakočar Zupančič brought the issue up in her meetings and she said both Plenković and Jandroković assured to put in their word to tackle the matter.

Both Klakočar Zupančič and Jandroković promised to make an effort for the rights of Slovenians in Croatia and Croats in Slovenia to be respected and realised problem-free.

Unlike the Slovenian community in Croatia, the Croatian community in Slovenia does not enjoy the status of a minority.

Jandroković said they were aware of the limitations of the Slovenian Constitution, which recognises only two autochthonous minorities (Italian and Hungarian), but would continue to work in the future so that the language and culture of Croats in Slovenia are protected.