LJUBLJANA / ZAGREB – Tomorrow is important day for Slovenia and Croatia, given that the Arbitral Tribunal in Hague will announce the final verdict on the border dispute between the two countries in the Piran Bay and while Slovenia says that the new talks will not are not possible, Croatia officials claims that this decision does not affect them and is not binding on the official Zagreb.
Namely, in 2015, Croatia’s unanimous decision came out of the arbitration dispute over its compromise, and the Zagreb media reported that Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar will attend tomorrow’s special session of the parliamentary committee on foreign policy, which will be said to be held in the so-called deaf room, that is, the room technically protected from possible eavesdropping. The room is located in the basement of the parliament in Ljubljana.
It is also claimed that tension is growing in Slovenia, and describes the political and media atmosphere as daunting in the wake of the announcement of the decision by arbitration judges.
It is also recalled that the Slovenian officials has called this decision of the arbitral tribunal a historic one in the past few days, and the day is crucial for its country and the maritime orientation of Slovenia, which expects to get an open sea contact with arbitration.
“The proclamation of the arbitration judgment will be” the third turning point “in the life of our young state. The first was when Slovenia became independent 26 years ago, the second when it entered the EU and NATO in 2004. The third turning point will take place on Thursday, when our “final border” with Croatia will be determined, said Milan Brglez, Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Ljubljana and vice president of the party, Prime Minister Cerar, who is known for being a great connoisseur international relations.
He warned that a formal decision by the arbitral tribunal, the Slovenian government and the parliament should be possible.
Cerar, in his press statement, called these days a historic event for both countries in dispute, but also as a vital moment for Slovenia.
Slovenian media have been intensively reporting on arbitrations for days, and Slovenačka TV has announced special program in a prime time, related to arbitration and the issue of the Piran Bay, or the Savudrija Vale.
The unique opinion of the official Ljubljana is that the verdict of the arbitral tribunal has no alternative.
Former Maritime Law expert Marko Pavliha talks about the possibility of a lawsuit against Croatia in case of non-compliance with the verdict.
Namely, for Slovenian radio, he stated that in the implementation of the verdict, the arbitrators do not expect incidents, and says that in the first days after its announcement, Slovenia must act with restraint, using the diplomatic rather than other means.
“But if Croatia continues to refuse any idea of accepting an arbitration award, then Slovenia, as an outsider, should think about the lawsuit against Croatia before the European Union Court in Luxembourg,” Pavliha believes.
On Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Karl Erjavec will be present in the Hague as a representative of the Slovenian government to attend a reading of the verdict, which, according to the media, is personally very interested because the opposition tried unsuccessfully to change him two years ago, at the time of the so- the arbitration affair, when the footage of the interviews of his then associate Simona Drenik with the then Slovenian judge Jernej Sekolecom was published, in which they discussed, inter alia, the strategy of influence on judges and the inadmissible additional investing of documents in the court file.
However, among ordinary citizens, there is a little interest in the verdict, because of the fact that Slovenians spend most of their holidays in Croatia.