Hluboka Castle, Czech Republic - European Union foreign ministers were Saturday holding informal talks in the Czech Republic on the membership aspirations of the Western Balkans.

Of the seven countries, most of them formerly part of Yugoslavia, Croatia is next in line to join the bloc and aims to conclude membership negotiations by the end of this year.

But first, it must resolve an ugly border dispute with neighbouring Slovenia, which became an EU member in 2004 and is now blocking Croatia's bid.

On Friday, Slovenian President Danilo Turk signed a law paving the way for Croatia to join NATO at the alliance's summit next week.

The border dispute, which concerns access to a tiny stretch of the Adriatic Sea, had also threatened Croatia's NATO bid.

And Slovenian Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar said Saturday he could also see "movement" on the EU front, hailing the mediating role being played by the EU's enlargement commissioner, Olli Rehn.

"It's going to be difficult for us, probably for both sides. But what Rehn proposed is a kind of a compromise, and let's hope the two sides will work on it," Zbogar said.

A number of foreign ministers attending the talks in the Czech Republic implicitly criticized Slovenia by saying bilateral disputes should not stand in the way of EU enlargement.

"We will talk about Slovenia and Croatia, with a determination to calm things down," said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

Kouchner also urged all Western Balkan governments to "tone down" their "nationalistic rhetoric", which he described as anachronistic.

Macedonia was granted candidacy status in 2005, but it has since failed to resolve a protracted dispute with neighbouring Greece over its name.

Albania, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo have also set their sights on future EU membership. (dpa)