LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), June 18 (SeeNews) – Slovenia will file a lawsuit against Croatia with the Court of Justice of the European Union by the middle of next month over Croatia's refusal to recognise an arbitration ruling in their border dispute, Slovenia's prime minister said on Monday.
The Slovenian government will file the lawsuit, because international and EU law should be respected, Miro Cerar said in a statement.
The European Commission said earlier on Monday that it will not give its opinion on Slovenia's planned lawsuit, insisting that the two countries should find an amicable solution. The Commission, however, stands ready to assist, Slovenian news agency STA quoted Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas as saying at a news conference in Brussels.
Cerar said that he regrets the inaction of the European Commission.
"The Commission is not performing its duties. For political reasons, it is ignoring legal arguments. This is a dangerous precedent for the future of the EU," Cerar said.
The Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) granted Slovenia access to the high sea and control over most of the contested Piran Gulf in the northern Adriatic Sea in June last year. 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.
Following the ruling, the European Commission said it expected both countries to respect and enforce it.
"Accepting and respecting the final judgment is what constitutes being part of the Union on the basis of the rule of law", the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said on June 13 last year.
Slovenia's foreign affairs ministry has already drafted the text of the lawsuit, which will be voted on by the government on Thursday.
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.