Slovenia will respect the decision announced by the Arbitration Tribunal on Slovenia’s border crossing with Croatia on Thursday.
As 24sata reported on the 26th of June, 2017, the Slovenian Prime Minister says that while Slovenia needs dialogue with Croatia on the implementation of whatever decision comes back on Thursday, new negotiations on the solution to the long-running dispute are to be excluded.
”The implementation of the arbitration decision will need to be discussed with the Croatian side. But, of course, this does not mean that [issues related to] the border will be negotiated again, but the dialogue must be aligned with the arbitration judgment” Cerar said for the leading Slovenian publication ”Delo”.
Cerar states that Slovenia will be “respectful” of whatever decision is returned on Thursday and ready for its implementation. He claimed that his government is ready for various scenarios and is ready to do whatever is needed to be done at all levels. He also expects Croatia to accept the decision too.
As Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday at the end of an EU summit, Croatia does not want any unilateral action after the arbitral tribunal issues its verdict.
“It is especially important that we do not go for any one-sided action after the verdict is published, and I have talked with my Slovenian counterpart, Cerar, and many other colleagues at the European Council” stated Plenkovic, reiterating Croatia’s readiness for dialogue with Slovenia on the question of the border.
According to a survey released by Slovenian media on Monday, 40 percent of Slovenian citizens who responded say that current relations with Croatia are bad, whereas the responses of others vary, and according to another, 90 percent of respondents believe that relations between Ljubljana and Zagreb will not improve even after the announcement of the decision this Thursday.
