Croatia And Slovenia - Development Of Events

Slovenia is blocking Croatia`s advancement towards international integrations at every step. Starting from 1991.

Slovenia is trying to prevent Croatia from accessing the European Union, it seems, until the border dispute is solved, which has been present ever since the breakdown of Yugoslavia, i.e. when Croatia declared its independence. The date when everything began was June 25, 1991. Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Everything would have been alright if borders at sea were determined in Yugoslavia. However, this was not the case and the border was set along the middle of the Piran Bay in 1991. These borders were determined considering the administrative jurisdiction at certain areas which later became disputable.

Since Croatia was mostly preoccupied with waging war in a third of its territory under siege in the Croatian Homeland War of independence in 1991 and 1992, attention was not paid to the border dispute with Slovenia. However, the Slovene Parliament adopted a Memorandum in 1993, which claims that Slovenia has a right to a direct link with the open sea. At that time, offsets of Slovene politicians are frequent, concerning the demarcation at Piran Bay, mostly ignored in Croatia, country still burdened with Slobodan Milosevic`s regime.

Never implemented agreement Drnovsek-Racan

The problem was frozen for a long time, at least on the Croatian border and progress was made after Croatia turned its foreign policy attention to the West as the Drnovsek-Racan agreement was signed in 2001.

This agreement, for which Racan could not raise voted of two-thirds of Croatian members of Parliament, was signed by Olga Kresovic-Rogulja, the president of the commission for borders at the time and her Slovene colleague Miha Pogacnik on July 20, 2001.

According to the Agreement, Croatia gave up a large part of the Piran aquatorium. To be precise, Slovenia would get 160 squared kilometres of sea, along a corridor which would lead to international waters, 3.4 metres wide and 10 km long. Croatian PM at the time Ivica Racan and his Slovene counterpart Drnovsek also discussed the border on land, where the territory surrounding the Dragonja Rover would remain Croatian, but the citizens would get the so-called para-national status – they were able to take Slovenian citizenship and were not required to pay customs fees.

Racan strictly stood by the Agreement, claiming it was in the country`s strategic interest and he was given support by Parliament speaker and Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.

After the Agreement, several conflicts lined up between fishermen on both sides and the police. Slovene officers supposedly banned Croatian fishermen from activity in the waters which Slovenia was supposed to have got according to the Agreement.

Nuclear power plant Krsko and (New) Ljubljanska Bank

What about the problem with the Krsko nuclear power plant and the Ljubljanska Bank? Krso was constructed with divided expenses, while Slovenia nationalised the plant in 1996. Two years later, first problems arose – Slovenia stopped power supplies to Croatia, because Croatia did not agree to the cost of shipped energy.

After the arrangement, power deliveries should have continued on July 1, 2002, however, Slovenia sued Croatia for not paying for electricity, i.e. the difference in the paid and requested amount – 105 million dollars. Croatia responded by demanding 180 million dollars of compensation for more expensive electricity it paid from 1998 until 2002.

Electricity flow was again established in 2003, after which Croatia started the arbitrage process before the International centre for solving investment disputes in 2005. It is still not determined where the power plant`s waste would be disposed.

As far as the Ljubljanska Bank goes, the problem arose when the New Ljubljanska Bank was founded after its bankruptcy and the breakdown of Yugoslavia. The New bank acknowledged savings of Slovene clients exclusively. This induced certain Croats to sue the bank before the International court of human rights, which turned down their lawsuit in 2008. The issue of Croatian savings clients, some 130,000 of them, remain a problem in international relations.

Brijuni meeting in 2005 – games behind the scenes?

In June 2005, government representatives of both countries met in Brijuni islands to discuss mutual relations. On this occasion, Croatian PM Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart at the time Janez Jansa held a working meeting when they officially confirmed good relations.

- Slovenia, which has already ratified the European Constitution, has an exceptionally important role in solving the crisis, as a member of the EU and NATO. Slovenia is an inducing role-model for us and a respectable partner in our efforts of realising the same goal soon – PM Sanader said at the meeting.

Still, some political analysts guessed that a lot more took place behind the scenes. Sanader and Jansa discussed the Drnovsek-Racan Agreement, it is assumed, and possible solutions of the dispute. However, two more years had to pass for a plan to be drafted.

Prejudicing borders in documentation

·         In the Agriculture chapter, the disputable settlements on the left bank of the Dragonja River were stated as Croatian (Skrile, Buzin, Skudelini and Veli Mlin).

·        In Safe Food chapter, the disputable entry is Croatia referring to the maritime regulations, which mention the epicontinental zone in the Adriatic Sea.

·        In the Taxation chapter, the Plovanija border crossing was exceptionally stated, i.e. the temporary border point near Secovalj, which PM at the time Nikica Valentic confirmed in writing that it does not prejudice the border in 1994.

·        In the Infrastructure chapter, maps were attached with the sea border.

·        In Regional policy, the intervention plan in case of sea pollution is disputable, which mentioned the Protected Ecological Fishery Zone (ZERP), and a map was attached with the set border.

·        The Rights chapter includes documents which state border crossings; the Plovanija crossing was stated, along with land register entries made after June 25, 1991.

·        In the Environment chapter, the ZERP is mentioned and a map was attached with the set sea border.

Sanader and Jansa on Bled in 2007

Croatian PM Ivo Sanader and his Slovene counterpart Janez Jansa met on Bled on August 27, 2007 and drafted a plan to “basically solve” the border dispute before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It seemed that the head of cabinets finally agreed on the final solution for the problem,.

However, on January 1, 2008, Slovenia took over the six-month presidency of the European Union.

The problem arose with the proclamation of the Protected Ecological Fishery Zone (ZERP). The Slovene side pointed out that by declaring the ZERP the borders were prejudiced, thus the Croatia`s EU negotiations would be blocked until the zone is revoked as Italy complained about the zone as well. Croatia referred to international law, but this was not enough for the Union, which insisted that the zone is revoked, subtly or less subtly, warning that the progress in negotiations might seriously be threatened with insisting on the ZERP.

Pahor intensifies problems with the borders again – beginning of the end?

Croatia folded, but this is not the end of the long and winding road. Elections were held in Slovenia in November and a change in office came – Borut Pahor assembled the cabinet, a Social Democrat who continued insisting on solving the border dispute before Croatia accessed the European Union. At the same time, the EU Council of Ministers also expressed lack of trust in Croatia, not defining the deadline for ending negotiations with the EU. Croatian diplomacy hopes that negotiations will have been finalised by the end of 2009.

Slovenia insists that Croatian accession documentation prejudices borders before any official agreement is achieved. In December 2008, Slovenia officially became the only state that does not approve further opening of accession chapters for Croatia.

In the end, let us remember the thrilling situation at the Slovenian Parliament in recent days. The June 25 Institute advocated a referendum which would decide on the ratification of Croatia`s NATO accession agreement. The Institute, headed by Marjan Podobnik, raised 2,500 citizens` signatures and threatened to start the procedure for a referendum to be carried out is the Parliament accepts the amendment on the protection of Slovene interests in the border negotiations. The Parliament accepted the protection statement, just like it did not accept the referendum to be carried out.

Still, the party which also took party in raising signatures, the Slovenian People`s Party, announced it would maintain its position on the referendum,  and once again, Croatia`s NATO accession is again uncertain.