Uncertainty on the way forward with the Slovenian border scandal continues.
On Thursday, Slovenian government will likely decide not to appoint a new arbitrator to replace French Judge Ronny Abraham. Instead, it will let the decision to be made by the president of the Arbitration Tribunal Gilbert Guillaume, reports RTV Slovenia.
According to the Slovenian public television journalist Dejan Ladika, government circles in Ljubljana claim that such a scenario at this moment would be the most pragmatic one for Slovenia and would least further burden the process of deciding on a border dispute, from which Croatia has recently decided to unilaterally withdraw.
On the other hand, the influential Slovenian daily Delo reports that the government of Miro Cerar will appoint a local legal expert, and several possible names are being mentioned.
Croatia has decided to abandon the arbitration procedure after the border scandal which erupted after the publication of secretly recorded conversations between former Slovenian arbitrator Jernej Sekolec and the representative of the Slovenian government at the Court of Arbitration Simona Drenik. They were not allowed to consult among themselves, and the Croatian side also claims that contrary to the rules certain documents were inserted into the file during the arbitration process which, according to the government in Zagreb, has contaminated the entire procedure.
Both Sekolec and Drenik have resigned soon after the outbreak of the scandal. Slovenia appointed as a new arbitrator prominent French lawyer Ronny Abraham, but he withdrew from the court after it became clear that Croatia no longer intends to participate in the process. Before him, Croatian arbitrator Budislav Vukas also resigned.
