Remain commited to Croatia, repudiate the Accord

Some thirty prominent members of the Croatian public life signed the Appeal to the Government focusing on the Arbitrage Accord with Slovenia

Some thirty prominent members of the Croatian public life signed the Appeal to the Government and the Parliament in which they focus on the - Arbitrage Accord with a regard to a solution of the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia. - As notified in the appeal, signatories have felt the responsibility and the duty to discourse as the Croatian citizens on the Accord; moreover they say it doesn't cover any sort of vessels navigation regime, but the foreign territorial corridor and a part of the Croatian sea.

We're quoting here the entire text of the Appeal:

- We, the signatories to this letter, regardless of the point of view , pollitical and any other differencies, feel it is our obligation and a duty that as the citizens of the Republic of Croatia to discourse on the - Arbitrage Accord with a regard to a solution of the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia.

- This proposition binds the Arbitrage Court to make a decision either on the junction or the close contact – regardless of the term used – of Slovenia and the open sea. Slovenia requires that the junction is purely territorial. Therefore, we're not talking about any sort of the vessels navigation regime but about the foreign territorial corridor and an univocal part of the Croatian state territory, in other words, the Croatian sea.

The Arbitrage court is therefore advised to reach a verdict equally binding to all of the parties in dispute, and to henceforth coerce the Croatia to waive one part of its state territory near the Savudria coastal area, in a maritime and underwater strap 26 kilometers long, 5 kilometers and 400 meters wide.

Moreover, Croatia should implement the mandatory decision reached by the Arbitrage Court. This sort of request is counteracting to the UN Convention on the maritime rights, adopted by 160 countries, that the interstate disputes have to be executed before the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the official United Nations court room.

The Croatian Government and the president state that once we turn down the accord, Slovenia will pursue with the EU negotiations blockage. Solely for this reason, we'll remain for years and years out of the European integrations. We've upholded however the EU accession process over the years, but solely on the terms of egalitarianism.

It's completely unimaginable to pay the EU entrance by territorial currency, which in other terms would mean that Croatia is the only country which funded its own European membership by territorial means. It would also be a sheer violation of the EU principles that the internal disputes have been executed before the International Court by legal and not political means.

Because of the request cited in the Arbitrage Accord that the Arbitrage Court should decide on the Slovenian open sea junction, not only that this very Accord designates the controversial border inherited following the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, but we additonally agree on the abalienation of our very own territory, contrary to the Croatian Constitution, International Conventions and the state practice. 

One should therefore decide on this sort of an Accord in the Croatian Parliament solely following the mechanism of the strict qualified majority of all the parliamentary represantatives. For this reason alone, we call upon all the parliamentary representatives to bear in their minds as the primary and the utmost duty - allegiance to Croatia. Let them regardless of their party colours repudiate unanimously a humiliating, repugnant dictation and the extortions that enslave us.

This Appeal is signed by: Imra Agotić, Ivan Aralica, Zvonimir Baletić, Ivo Banac, Ivan Zvonimir Čičak, Ivan Đikić, Nedjeljko Fabrio, Ante Gavranović, Emil Havkić, Vladimir Ibler, Dubravko Jelčić, Mirjana Kasapović, Dubravka Kocijan Hercigonja, Zvonko Maković, Božidar Novak, Davor Pavuna, Josip Paladino, Velimir Pravdić, Milan Ramljak, Davorin Rudolf, Petar Stipetić, Vlatko Silobrčić, Slobodan Šnajder, Zdravko Tomac, Marija Ujević-Galetović i Milan Vuković.