ZAGREB, Feb 17, 2018 – Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said on Friday that Croatia, by “not honouring” the border arbitration ruling, was sending a negative signal to Western Balkan countries on their European Union journey which could slow them down.
“Croatia is not honouring the arbitration ruling, giving the countries in the region a very negative signal,” Erjavec told Slovenia’s STA news agency in Sofia, adding that Croatia had outstanding border issues with Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that that was “the main problem” when it came to the border disputes in the region.
Croatia’s message in the case of its border arbitration dispute with Slovenia is that one can be in the EU without honouring arbiters’ decisions and international law, which is a very negative signal, Erjavec said.
Erjavec was in Sofia for an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on the European Commission’s new strategy for enlargement to the Western Balkans.
In his address, he said the EU accession candidates’ unsolved border issues with Croatia were the main problem that made it unrealistic that some of them might wrap up their accession negotiations by 2025 at the earliest, Slovenian media reported.
