Croatia and Slovenia submit maritime border arbitration agreement to UN

Piran Bay has been disputed between Croatia and Slovenia since 1991

Croatia and Slovenia have submitted an arbitration agreement to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on their long-standing sea border dispute, it was reported on 26th May.

The agreement will refer the border dispute to international arbitration.

Croatia and Slovenia have disputed ownership over the Bay of Piran since gaining independence in 1991.

In November 2009, Croatia's Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor signed the agreement, and it was narrowly approved in a popular referendum in Slovenia in June 2010.

The border row is centred on access to international waters, a signficant issue for Slovenia due to its very short coastline (29 miles).

Croatia claims the border should be drawn down the middle of the bay of Piran – a small bay of just 8 square miles, which Slovenia fears would deny its ships direct passage to international waters.

In 2004, Slovenia became the first former Yugoslav state to join the EU. Croatia hopes to become the second in 2012, but Slovenia had threatened to veto Croatia's accession until the dispute was resolved.

Any decision the arbitration tribunal makes will be final and binding.

Sources: BBC News, Hina, SE Times

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Croatian fishing regulations provoke Slovenian protest

Slovenia and Croatia's maritime boundary dispute, currently in the process of arbitration, has flared up again recently, due to Croatia's fishing regulations.

The Croatian national television station reported that, according to Croatia's rulebook, the border is established along the middle of the Bay of Piran, although it acknowledged that it could change as a result of arbitration proceedings.

Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said on Thursday 20th January that Croatia's regulations on fishing area boundaries had no legal bearing on arbitration proceedings that would solve the bilateral border dispute, but added that the adoption of the regulations was a unilateral step against which Slovenia would officially protest tomorrow.

Pahor said the Foreign Ministry would forward the note to the relevent agencies on Friday 21st January.

The issue emerged on Thursday when the foreign policy committees of Slovenia and Croatia met in Ljubljana in their first meeting in a decade. While they assessed the countries' relations as excellent, the delegations were unable to avoid the controversial Croatian fishing regulations.

The maritime boundary between the two countries has been a major sticking point in recent years. Slovenians voted in June 2010 to send the issue of ownership of the Bay of Piran to international arbitration.

In the past, Croatia has called for the bay to be divided using strict equidistance, but Slovenia has protested, as this would severely restrict its navigational ability because of its shorter coastline.

Slovenia, an EU member since 2004, had threatened to block Croatia's EU membership until the dispute was resolved.

Sources: STA, B92, Balkans.com

For more information on the Slovenia-Croatia maritime boundary dispute, see the Menas Borders website, here.