The arbitration tribunal has taken into account land cadastre borders, which would be favourable for Croatia in its border dispute with Serbia.
In the last few months, Slovenia has often criticised Croatia’s behaviour with regards to the resolution of the border dispute by saying that Croatia had unresolved border issues with all the neighbouring countries with the exception of Hungary, reports Večernji List on 24 July 2017.
Although the statement is true, it should be taken into account that both countries have unresolved border issues with all of their neighbours which are also former Yugoslav republics. The only difference is that Slovenia has just one such ex-YU neighbour (Croatia), while Croatia has four (Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro).
Although the arbitration dispute with Slovenia will probably not be solved anytime soon, it seems that the issue of the border with Serbia could be next on the agenda A month ago, Croatian Foreign Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić said there were signals from the Serbian side that they were ready to start again discussing the border between the two countries. The work of the interstate commission on the border was interrupted in 2003 and then renewed in 2010, when one member of the commission was then state secretary at the Foreign Ministry Davor Božinović, who is not Croatia’s Interior Minister. However, after a while, the commission again ceased with its activities.
On Saturday, the signal was confirmed by Serbian Deputy Foreign Minister Goran Aleksić, outlining the position on the border demarcation which is the opposite of the Croatian approach. Serbia wants the border line to run in the middle of the Danube river, while Croatia prefers taking into account cadastral boundaries. And this is where, according to some diplomatic sources, solutions from the arbitration verdict on the border between Croatia and Slovenia could be beneficial for Croatia. The tribunal respected cadastral registers while determining the land border. This decision is valuable as a signal to Serbia what it can expect from possible arbitration or international court proceedings regarding the border with Croatia.
Will the inter-state border commission be more successful this time, or will there again be delays? The answer remains to be seen. However, borders are important, but it is far more important that the life around them proceeds normally, which is best demonstrated by the example of Germany and the Netherlands, which also have no absolutely defined border.
At this time, Croatia does not have any practical problems on its borders but, given the pressure of Slovenia that it wants to implement the arbitration decisions at all costs, that could soon change.
Translated from Večernji List.
