Slovenia insists on the implementation of the arbitration decision.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor said that the Croatian government should give a “discreet signal” that it was ready to implement the arbitration decision on the border dispute, despite the official position that it will not recognise it and that the decision has no legal effect on Croatia. In that case, unwanted incidents at the border could be avoided, reports N1 on 20 July 2017.
“I think Croatia understands that it is fair to respect the arbitration agreement that it has signed and the verdict which the arbitrators gave, considering that the Slovenian arbitrator and the Foreign Ministry official did not significantly violate the arbitration agreement,” said the Slovenian President.
“Croatia will understand, sooner or later, that the international community wants this border dispute to be resolved once and for all and that there is no other solution except respecting the arbitration decision and international law,” added Pahor who, as then Slovenian Prime Minister, signed the arbitration agreement which was a condition for Croatia to enter the European Union.
Pahor rejected the opinion of some Slovenian lawyers that the implementation of the verdict should be conducted very cautiously, even if that meant that the decision would not be implemented within six months, as intended by the government led by Prime Minister Miro Cerar. “Slovenia is obliged to mark the land border and apply the border at sea during the next six months,” said Pahor.
He added that he was astonished by the opinion of Constitutional Court member Ernest Petrič, his former professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Ljubljana, that the process of implementation could last for ten years, but that Slovenia should in the meantime make a permanent diplomatic pressure and warn international community about incidents that Croatia is provoking at sea, as he explained in an interview with the Slovenian Television earlier this week.
“The incidents can be avoided if Croatia sends an official or discreet message that it is in general, at least in the long run, ready to respect the arbitration decision. Without the consent of Croatia, the implementation of the verdict would be a one-sided step to which Croatia could react with countermeasures,” said the Slovenian President.
Translation from N1.
