Slovenian President Borut Pahor said on Monday the European Commission's (EC) decision not to interfere in the Croatian-Slovenian border arbitration dispute sent a negative message to Western Balkan countries wishing to join the European Union.
Slovenia is claiming that Croatia is in breach of EU law by refusing to implement the arbitration ruling determining the land and sea borders between the two countries, which was reached in June 2017.
Slovenia and Croatia had presented their cases before the European Commission in May this year, and the EC decided in mid-June to remain neutral in the matter and allow the countries to resolve the issue between themselves.
Croatia does not recognise the arbitration decision and has withdrawn from the process in 2015 because of a scandal which involved leaked tapes showing Slovenian government official discussing the case with the court’s judge.
Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum, Pahor said the EC, with its position on the arbitral tribunal’s ruling, did not realise that it was sending a negative message to the Western Balkans countries which had to resolve numerous bilateral issues before joining the EU.
“Why would states reach bilateral agreements on outstanding issues if they don’t have to honour them?” he said.
Pahor went on to say the EU was at a standstill which would turn into regression due to an increasing return to national policies, unless those in favour of strengthening the EU came up with a clear vision of the future.
Such a weakened EU would not be able to enlarge to include the Western Balkans, he added.
Last week, Slovenia’s outgoing Prime Minister and future Foreign Minister in the new coalition government, Miro Cerar, said that Slovenia’s stance on the border dispute will remain unchanged.
In July, the outgoing government has filed a lawsuit at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg over Croatia’s refusal to implement the arbitration border ruling.
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