The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday convened a hearing on the Slovenian claim that Croatia was breaking European and international law by refusing to implement the border arbitration decision. Previously, both countries had submitted written observations on the subject.
Slovenia still insists on suing Croatia before the European Court of Justice because of Croatia’s refusal to implement the border arbitration decision reached in June 2017. The first step in the process is the hearing in front of the European Commission, after which the Commission should decide whether to take over the lawsuit against Croatia, or leave the case to Slovenia.
The Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said earlier he did not expect much from the process.
“If the Commission wanted to solve this, they would have done it differently. The Croatian arguments are weak, they keep repeating that the border was defined in 1991. If that were true, we would not need the arbitration in the first place,” he said.
Regardless whether the EC decides to give its opinion, Slovenia can sue Croatia at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) after the three month-process before the EC is over.
Slovenia has already announced they would go to the Court in Luxembourg even without the support from the Commission.
When the arbitration process was agreed to by both parties nine years ago, the Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar, as a legal expert, was in favour of the continuation of the country’s blocking Croatia’s EU membership due to the border dispute.
Although the Croatian side can be satisfied with the arbitration decision, it is bound by the Parliament’s decision to leave the process. The decision was made in 2016, after footage leaked showing an official in the Slovenian government discussing the case with a judge of the court.
A new attempt at reaching a deal can be expected in a few months, after the Slovenian parliamentary election.
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