Slovenia will continue to insist on the implementation of the border arbitration decision.
Slovenian President Borut Pahor said that he was against the possibility of bilateral talks with Croatia on the border dispute resolution, adding that Ljubljana should continue to insist on the implementation of the arbitration decision which Croatia rejects, reports N1 on September 19, 2017.
“I am confident in the implementation of the arbitration decision, and it seems to me that the resolution of this issue by a new bilateral agreement is unacceptable,” Pahor told the Slovenian press agency.
“A mere decision to accept talks with Croatia on the implementation of the arbitration tribunal decision by a new bilateral agreement would mean that the legal value of the verdict would be significantly weakened,” he added.
As the Slovenian Prime Minister at the time, Pahor signed the arbitration agreement in 2009 with then Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, at a time when Ljubljana conditioned the continuation of Croatian accession negotiations with the EU with the agreement.
In a few days, Pahor will launch his re-election campaign for presidential elections, in which relations between Slovenia and Croatia will certainly have an important role.
The Slovenian President said that he was reserved towards Croatian attempts to re-open the border issue by launching bilateral talks. “This issue has already been bilaterally resolved with the international agreement which we concluded under the auspices of the European Union”, he said, referring to the 2009 agreement. Croatia left the arbitration proceedings two years ago when secretly recorded talks showed that Slovenia was unlawfully trying to influence the arbitrators.
Pahor believes that the acceptance of the arbitration decision would increase the possibility of cooperation between the two countries in the Balkans and eliminate instabilities. “But, the decision of the Croatian authorities not to respect the arbitration agreement has undermined the confidence. Even if a possible bilateral border agreement were to be confirmed by both governments and the two parliaments, the question is whether such an agreement would be respected,” said Pahor.
Translated from N1.
