The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes rules on the long-running electricity dispute between Croatia and Slovenia.
At a time of heightened tensions between Croatia and Slovenia, the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington ordered Slovenia to pay more than 40 million euro to Croatian electricity company HEP in a dispute dating back to 2002, reports HINA.
The dispute surrounds non-delivery of electricity from the Krsko nuclear power plant on the Slovenian side of the border, which is jointly owned by the two countries, a legacy of their membership of former Yugoslavia.
The 40 million settlement covers compensation for electricity not delivered from July 2002 to April 2003, interest and some US$10 million of HEP legal fees.
“This is only the first victory at the arbitral tribunal as far as HEP is concerned and we have several other very active arbitration proceedings where, with the help of the best lawyers, we will manage to protect Croatia’s interest and the interest of citizens and strategic companies,” said Ivan Vrdoljak, Croatia’s Minister of the Ecomony.
The ruling comes at a testing time of relations between the two countries. An ongoing border dispute in the bay of Piran has been superceded by the migrant crisis affecting both countries, with the two governments clashing on the best way to handle it. Slovenia – which is part of Schengen, while Croatia is not – then decided to build a wire fence along the mutual border, which has caused additional problems, initially with Croatia complaining part of it had been erected on its territory, and lately with the decision to extend it along the border of the Istrian peninsula.
Local opposition on both sides of the fence has been vocal, and the plight of animals caught in the wire fence has made global headlines. The issue will be highlighted later today with a volleyball match between Slovenian and Croatian Olympians and prominent figures, with the ‘net’ being the wire fence, a story which was broken by Total Croatia News – read about it here.
