The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, today met representatives of parliamentary parties and the group of unaffiliated deputies, to discuss the resolving of outstanding issues between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia. At a similar meeting on 27 August 2007, a decision was reached that before any further concrete steps would be taken, an opinion would be obtained from a coordination group of international legal experts about whether referring the border dispute with Croatia to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was in principle an acceptable option for Slovenia.
(Photo: Srdjan Živulovič/Bobo)
The PM stressed that one of the conclusions of the coordination group that met at that time was: "The coordination group agrees in principle that the border dispute be submitted to a third party, i.e. the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and the Republic of Slovenia agrees in principle to this without reservations. A suitable expert basis is required whereby the position of the Republic of Slovenia regarding a resolution of the border issue must be observed, and this must include justice, the situation on 25 June 1991, and the decision being applicable to the whole border, i.e. to all the disputed points along the border." According to PM Janez Janša, all the conditions have been met for the government to take the steps necessary for resolving any other outstanding issues.
The Government of the Republic of Slovenia will appoint two mixed commissions. One will catalogue all areas of dispute over the land and maritime borders between Slovenia and Croatia, while the other will attempt to define a legal framework that would be acceptable to both countries if the matter is referred to the Court in The Hague. "The decision as to whether or not to continue negotiations about referring the matter to The Hague will depend on whether or not a legal framework acceptable to Slovenia can be agreed upon with Croatia," said the PM, adding that Slovenia would insist that the framework include all its international legal, historical, geographic and other arguments. "Of course, in an attempt to find a framework that would be acceptable to both sides, our neighbours will surely propose one that would enable them, too, to present their case," said PM Janez Janša.
"At this meeting today, we did not decide whether to take the border dispute before the Hague court. If all the necessary conditions are met, this decision will have to be taken by the Slovenian parliament. We also did not determine whether to take the next steps before we receive additional answers to the questions on the table today, which mainly concern the legal framework," said the PM.
According to the PM, we cannot have these answers until Croatia's position is made known, which is still to be established by a mixed commission. "We believe it will take some months. First, the Slovenian sides of both commissions will work separately, then they will sit at one table, and only then it will be clear if a reasonable framework, based on expertise, can be reached. After all this, we can continue with the political decision-making,” said the PM.
"If the negotiation framework, i.e. the legal framework, is assessed as acceptable to Slovenia, official decision-making procedures will begin – first in the cabinet, then within a working body of the National Assembly, and then in the National Assembly," the PM concluded.
