ZAGREB, March 20, 2018 – Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Marija Pejčinović Burić reiterated in Brussels Croatia’s position that the border dispute with Slovenia was not the issue of the European acquis communautaire and Slovenia had neither grounds nor reasons to initiate proceedings against Croatia at the Court of Justice of the European Union “for allegedly breaching EU law.”
“There are neither grounds nor reasons for such a suit. We, like everyone else, are now waiting to see what the European Commission will say, but the fact remains that this is a bilateral border issue and not an issue of the European acquis communautaire and there are no grounds for a lawsuit. We are once again calling on Slovenia to handle this through dialogue because we are confident that dialogue can resolve this issue,” the Croatian minister said.
The European Commission on Friday confirmed receipt of a letter from the Slovenian government proposing the filing of a lawsuit against Croatia for its non-compliance with an international arbitration ruling on the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute. Slovenia plans to sue Croatia in line with Article 259 due to its non-compliance with the border arbitration ruling.
The EC now has three months to respond to Slovenia’s proposal. If it accepts it, it takes over the lawsuit. If the EC does not accept the proposal or does not respond to it, the member state which plans to file the lawsuit may do so before the Court of Justice of the EU. In formulating its position, the EC may call on the two sides to state their positions on the subject of the dispute.
Lawsuits between EU member states are very rare and of the six such cases launched so far, only one was successful.
