Croatia's navy seized an Italian trawler fishing inside Croatian territorial waters on Thursday in the first such incident since Zagreb enforced the zone. The fishermen were fined and barred from entering Croatia for a year.

Croatia has indicated it may soften the zone's rules but no steps are expected before Prime Minister Ivo Sanader forms a new coalition government, due in mid-January. Parliament will first convene on Jan. 11, following the general election in November.

"Slovenia expects its neighbour to solve this question as soon as the new government and parliament are constituted," Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country took over the rotating six-month EU presidency on Jan.1, told reporters.

"We realise Croatia does not have a government with full authority or a new parliament, but that does not excuse any country from respecting international obligations it has undertaken."

Croatia created the zone, which extends its jurisdiction beyond territorial waters to the middle of the Adriatic, because it said it needed to preserve fish stocks and limit pollution.

Its fishermen say Italy's better equipped fleet could deplete fish stocks on the Croatian side of the Adriatic after doing so on its side. They say Italian trawlers often fish illegally in Croatia's territorial waters.

The European Commission has told Croatia clearly its EU accession talks could suffer if Zagreb unilaterally implemented the zone against EU members. Zagreb wants to wrap up EU accession talks by mid-2009 at the latest.

"It is essential that a solution is found to this issue immediately once a new government is formed in Croatia in order to avoid negative consequences for the country's EU accession process," Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said in a statement issued just before the New Year.

Jansa said that, judging from comments from the European Commission, it was possible the dispute could delay up to six chapters, or negotiating points, in Zagreb's accession bid.

Commenting on views voiced in Croatian media that Zagreb could proclaim the zone but enforce it only loosely, Jansa said it would not be acceptable for Slovenia or the EU.