LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 12 (SeeNews) – Slovenia plans to file a lawsuit against Croatia with the Court of Justice of the European Union over Croatia's refusal to recognise an arbitration ruling in their border dispute, Slovenian media reported on Friday.
By end-February, Slovenia will send a draft of its complaint to the European Commission, which will have three months to decide whether it will tackle the issue or let Slovenia take matters to the court, news agency STA quoted Slovenian foreign minister Karl Erjavec as saying.
Erjavec noted he will inform the foreign policy committee in parliament about the planned lawsuit at its meeting on Friday.
"I will present the preparations related to the lawsuit that we will first submit to the European Commission under Article 259 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU and later to the EU court in Luxembourg," he said.
Article 259 specifies that a member state can bring an action against another member state if it has not fulfilled an obligation under the treaty.
Erjavec also said he believes the EU is on Slovenia's side.
Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday he will visit Brussels in February, where he will discuss Croatia's stance on the issue.
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. 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.