Slovenia-Croatia border dispute: deadlock continues

LJUBLJANA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two weeks since Slovenia began fully implementing the border arbitration award, presented on June 29, 2017 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague, the ongoing tensions and flare-ups with Croatia confirm that the border settlement will take more time.

In the past seven months, Slovenian authorities have recorded over 1,400 incidents in sea waters now considered Slovenian thanks to the arbitration award. However, Croatian fishermen, usually escorted by Croatian police boats, systematically reinforce what they consider within their border, according to Slovenian local media reports.

The two countries have been at odds over the maritime and land border ever since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The arbitration gives more maritime interests to Slovenia.

Although the maritime border can now be directly enforceable as the arbiters in The Hague determined it in a series of coordinates, the implementation is very complicated in terms of practical application.

Meanwhile, the land border has yet to be demarcated. It can only be determined in situ by a joint interstate commission, which requires mutual cooperation between Slovenia and Croatia.

While Slovenia regards the implementation of the arbitration award an obligation under international law, Croatia continues to reject it. The government in Zagreb insists the arbitration process was compromised and is not ready to implement the Tribunal's decision.

Even though the two countries maintain a dialogue, meetings between the two countries' prime ministers, Miro Cerar and Andrej Plenkovic, have so far not yielded any fruit.

While Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic admits that 90 percent of the arbitration ruling is acceptable to Croatian side, he insists in solving the border issue through bilateral talks and continues to ignore the arbitration award.

He argues that the ruling is not obligatory for Croatia, which had withdrawn from the arbitration process.

The Slovenian government maintains that Croatia must accept the entire ruling and that adherence to the arbitration award is the only real path to the resolution of the border issue.

For that reason, the Slovenian government intends to continue to work for the arbitration award's implementation through legal means. It is determined to file a lawsuit against Croatia at the EU Court of Justice over infringement of international law.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor has called on the European Commission to become more actively involved in implementing the arbitration award. The European Commission maintains that the enforcement of the arbiters' ruling is binding on the two countries.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker recently stated that in the future, any unresolved border issues in the Western Balkans will have to be resolved before the accession of those countries to the European Union (EU).

Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec has warned that Slovenia would not let Croatia become a member of the Schengen area nor would it support its membership to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) until Croatia implements the border arbitration agreement.

While Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, Croatia's accession in 2013 was made conditional on its acceptance of international arbitration. By failing to recognize the ruling, Croatia is in violation of a condition for its accession to the EU and in violation of international and European law.

Juncker is expected to invite the prime ministers of Slovenia and Croatia for talks in Brussels, in an attempt to resolve the dispute, local media reported. Enditem