Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec said on Tuesday the European Commission's decision that Croatia met the technical conditions to join the Schengen Area was political, and insisted that Croatia implement the arbitration ruling on its border dispute with Slovenia.

“We regret that the European Commission decided on such an important matter, the assessment of Croatia’s preparedness to join Schengen, just before the end of its term and that it adopted a political decision,” Sarec said, according to a press release from his office.

“We expect Croatia to meet all the conditions for joining Schengen, technical and legal ones, including respect for the rule of law,” he said, alluding to what Slovenian authorities consider respect for the rule of law, including the implementation of the border arbitration ruling.

Croatia does not recognise the ruling, maintaining that Slovenia irrevocably compromised the arbitration procedure.