A summit meeting of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) was held in the Slovenian mountain resort of Brdo Pri Kranju on Tuesday, and the main topics on the agenda were the enlargement of the European Union, security, prospects for the region's youth, and the digital transformation of society.

After a meeting of prime ministers on Tuesday morning, chaired by Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar and attended by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Cerar talked to reporters and said the meeting was successful.

When asked to comment on the arbitration ruling on the border dispute with Croatia, Cerar said Slovenia was open for dialogue.

“Slovenia and I personally are open for dialogue with Croatia when it is possible and when it makes sense. I have briefly met with (Croatian Prime Minister) Plenkovic today, and we talked about these matters. We are still in a dead end street. We (Slovenia) have sent a letter to the European Commission related to the arbitration agreement, and I have asked the Commission to take a mediation role in the matter of Ljubljanska Banka. The Slovenian government and I are open for dialogue, but only when it makes sense,” Cerar told reporters.

When asked about the timing of his request for the European Commission (EC) to mediate on Ljubljanska Banka and whether it had anything to do with the border arbitration, Cerar said that regarding the Ljubljanska Banka case “the problem is that Croatian courts keep making rulings which are illegal in Slovenia's view, and which we consider unacceptable.”

“We were forced to react like this. Last year, six months passed for the implementation of the arbitration ruling, and Croatia chose not to fulfil the obligations involved, so we had to react. We otherwise enjoy good neighbourly relations, but we will not back down when our interests are concerned,” Cerar said.

In the opening remarks he made at the news conference, Cerar said the motto of Slovenia's presidency of SEECP was “South East Europe for the Future” and added that Slovenia was strongly in favour of EU enlargement.

“We will continue to help countries on their path towards Euro-Atlantic integration,” Cerar said and added that Slovenia also actively supports the enlargement of NATO. “Slovenia had a significant role in Montenegro joining NATO,” he added.

“Slovenia has played a key role in closing the Balkan migration route,” Cerar said and added that migrations are likely to continue posing problems in this part of Europe.

“Our integration, at present and in the future, will stand or fall depending on democratic values and the rule of law,” Cerar told reporters.

The SEECP process was initiated in 1996 at the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of SEECP held in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. The regional forum aims at strengthening good-neighbourly relations among all the countries involved, to transform the region into an area of peace, security, stability and cooperation, with the main goal of fully integrating South-eastern European countries into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

Countries participating in the SEECP are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

Croatia has held the rotating presidency twice, from 2006 to 2007, and from 2016 to 2017.

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