Slovenia on Thursday supported Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area and attached a statement for the record according to which the mutual border was finally determined by arbitration, but Croatia immediately responded with its own statement, saying that the border has yet to be determined.

“The accession of the Republic of Croatia to Schengen has the support of the Republic of Slovenia and this is our common European interest. The Republic of Slovenia emphasises that both the land and the sea border were finally determined by the arbitration decision of July 29, 2017, which is final and binding,” says the Slovenian statement included in the minutes of today’s EU Council meeting.

Croatia responded to that statement, also for the record, with its own statement.

“Regarding the statement of the Republic of Slovenia on the occasion of the Council’s Decision on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis communautaire in the Republic of Croatia, Croatia recalls that, based on the unanimous conclusion of the Croatian Parliament of July 29, 2015, it withdrew from the arbitration proceedings due to significant violations of the Arbitration Agreement,” reads the Croatian statement.

Therefore, Zagreb repeats its position that “it is not bound by the arbitration ruling from 2017 in any way and will not implement it.”

“Therefore, the joint land and sea border between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia has yet to be definitively established peacefully, in accordance with international law,” it says.

“Croatia remains open to the continuation of the bilateral dialogue with Slovenia in order to find a common solution. This statement does not call into question the continuation of sincere cooperation with Slovenia on the full implementation of the Schengen acquis communautaire”, reads the Croatian statement.

At the end of October, when the information emerged that Slovenia could submit an additional statement, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that Croatia is joining the Schengen Area based on having met the criteria for full readiness to implement the Schengen acquis communautaire.

“Will Slovenia adopt a unilateral statement in this process – it can,” Plenkovic said, adding that everyone can say whatever they want in their statements.

“It is important that Croatia achieves its strategic goals – entry into the Schengen Area and the eurozone from January 1,” said the prime minister at the time.