The Croatian government acts on the Slovenian border scandal.
The Croatian government started the procedure to terminate the Arbitration Agreement between the Croatian and Slovenian governments because Slovenia violated the terms of the agreement, according to a report in Jutarnji List on July 30, 2015. The government acted after the parliament on Wednesday unanimously decided to withdraw from the agreement. Minister of foreign and European affairs Vesna Pusić pointed out that today’s government decision “does not annul our desire and obligation to resolve the border issue with Slovenia”. “However, this procedure is now too compromised for Croatia to continue”, she noted.
The government has therefore initiated proceedings for termination of the Arbitration Agreement between the two governments that was signed on 4 November 2009 in Stockholm, and came into force on 29 November 2010.
The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is now responsible, on behalf of the Croatian government, to send a diplomatic note to the Slovenian government that, due to the violations of the arbitration agreement by Slovenia and in accordance with international law, the conditions for termination of the arbitration have been met.
The scandal erupted after the discovery that the Slovenian representative at the Permanent Court of Arbitration Jernej Sekolec and an employee of the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Simona Drenik had discussed how to present Slovenian arguments and had lobbied other members of the court.
Pusić stressed that their communication, which was published in the media, shows that after the process began, they “unlawfully added additional documents and information into the process”. “That’s why we feel the process is so compromised that it is impossible to continue in this way to solve the border issue between Croatia and Slovenia”, she said.
