LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), March 16 (SeeNews) – Slovenia's mission to the EU said on Friday it has submitted a letter to the European Commission regarding Croatia's failure to implement an arbitration ruling in their border dispute.
"Via today’s letter addressed at @JunckerEU and @TimmermansEU regarding Croatia’s failure to fulfill its obligations under the Treaties and the #RuleOfLaw #Slovenia has brought the matter before the @Commission in line with A 259 of TFEU," the permanent representation of Slovenia to the EU said in a Tweet.
This is the first step in Slovenia's path to take Croatia to the EU Court of Justice, it added.
Although the content of the letter was not revealed, local media are speculating it lists ways in which Croatia has violated EU law by refusing to organise the border between the two countries in accordance with the ruling brought by the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in June.
The PCA granted Slovenia access to the high sea and control over most of the contested Piran Gulf in the northern Adriatic Sea. Croatia's political leadership has since vowed to ignore the PCA ruling, and has sought to resolve the border dispute with Slovenia itself, away from the PCA. Slovenia, however, is insisting that the ruling is final and binding for both countries, and a positive milestone in their relations.
Since the ruling was issued, Slovenian border police have intervened numerous times against Croatian fishermen believed to be operating in Slovenian waters. Slovenia has even deployed armed forces to its maritime border.
On November 4, 2009, the governments of Croatia and Slovenia signed an agreement to submit their territorial and maritime dispute to arbitration, after they were unable to resolve it themselves.
The PCA was called upon to determine the maritime and land boundary between Croatia and Slovenia, Slovenia’s junction to the high sea and the regime for the use of the relevant maritime areas.
The PCA is an independent intergovernmental organisation established by the 1899 Hague Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.