July 5 (SeeNews) - Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenkovic asked the European Commission on Wednesday to keep within its jurisdiction, saying it has no authority over arbitration procedures in border disputes.
"I expect members of the Commission to respect the fact that it is a bilateral issue, which Croatia is willing to discuss with Slovenia towards finding a solution", Plenkovic said in a statement.
He spoke after the European Commission asked Slovenia and Croatia to implement the territorial arbitration ruling recently delivered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) - a decision Zagreb rejects.
After discussing the final award made on June 29 by the PCA, as regards the maritime and land borders between Croatia and Slovenia, the Commission hopes that both prime ministers can come to an agreement on how best to implement it, the EU executive body said in a statement late on Tuesday.
"The Commission takes good note of the final award and expects both parties to implement it," it noted, adding it stands ready to contribute to or facilitate this process. "Once we are on our way in this process the College will come back to the issue to discuss the progress and see how the Commission can help bring about a full implementation and just implementation of the award".
Plenkovic, however, reiterated on Wednesday that the Croatian institutions will stand by their decision to ignore the PCA ruling. He noted that Croatia had already lost two years, in the process of its accession to the EU, over such bilateral issues, which are not in the Union's jurisdiction.
"I want to remind you that the outstanding issues (with Slovenia) and Slovenia's blockades had cost Croatia two years in the accession process", he said, adding that Croatia never received an apology for the lost time from the EU, even though bilateral issues have nothing to do with EU accession.
The prime ministers of Slovenia's and Croatia will meet on July 12 and have agreed that no unilateral steps would be taken before that date.
However, Croatia claims that the arbitration process was compromised due to breaches on behalf of the Slovenian side and that it will not implement the ruling.
Croatia had hoped the EU would respect its right to ignore the ruling. Namely, there is no mechanism of coercion for the implementation of PCA's arbitration rulings with parties left to enforce the court's decisions voluntarily.
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 Tribunal was called upon to determine the course of 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.
On June 29, the PCA awarded Slovenia control over most of the contested Piran Gulf and a corridor to international waters.
The PCA is an independent intergovernmental organisation established by the 1899 Hague Convention on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes.