ZAGREB (Reuters) – Croatia’s new prime minister will meet with her Slovenian counterpart tomorrow to break a deadlock over a border row that stands in the way of Zagreb’s European Union membership bid.

“I’m an optimist and believe that we will be able to achieve concrete results in the near future,” Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said yesterday ahead of the meeting in the Trakoscan Castle in northern Croatia.

A February meeting between Kosor’s predecessor, Ivo Sanader, and Slovenia’s Prime Minister Borut Pahor ended without resolution.

Slovenia blocked Croatia’s EU entry talks last December, saying the documentation Zagreb had submitted for the EU accession talks prejudged a solution for the border row.

Croatia hoped to wrap up its membership talks this year, and to join the wealthy 27-nation bloc in 2010 or 2011, but Slovenia’s blockage has made it practically impossible.

The border dispute dates back to the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. Slovenia wants Croatia to allow it direct access to international waters in the northern Adriatic and several villages on the northern Istrian peninsula.

Zagreb insists the problem is of a bilateral nature and should be resolved before an international court instead of being drawn into the negotiation process to join the EU.

The EU tried for six months to mediate in the dispute, but has achieved no progress. The European Commission then said it was up to Zagreb and Ljubljana to find a solution in direct talks.