Zagreb - Croatia's parliament Friday ratified an agreement that could lead to settling a border dispute with Slovenia. A majority of 129 legislators voted for the document while six were against a move to send the border dispute to international arbitration - a condition set by Slovenia for unblocking Croatia's membership talks with the European Union.
Slovenia will hold a national referendum on the border deal in early 2010.
Since the disintegration of former Yugoslavia in 1991, Croatia and Slovenia have been in a dispute over the demarcation of their border in the northern Adriatic Bay of Piran.
The inside of the Bay is Slovenia's entire coast. With the northern lip of the bay in Italy and the southern part claimed by Croatia, Slovenia was left without access to international waters.
The row led to Ljubljana's veto of Croatia's EU membership bid in 2008. Slovenia lifted its blockade of EU talks with Croatia after an agreement on arbitration was announced on September 11.
