Regarding Slovenian MFA’s note of protest against Croatian Government’s Decision from 5 January 2007

The Croatian MFAEI’s note states that the Decision was reached in accordance with the Croatian legislative procedures and laws, and concerns only the Croatian national territory and the territories over which Croatia has sovereign rights and jurisdiction. The MFAEI especially strongly protests against the Slovenian side’s attempt to show more openly than before a clear intention of seizing the possession of the Croatian national territory or the territories over which Croatia has sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

The note adamantly emphasizes the fact that the Decision about the concession has not prejudiced the border line between the two countries and that Croatia has not violated the Joint Statement on the Avoidance of Incidents from 10 June 2005. The MFAEI, therefore, most vehemently protests against and rejects the interpretations about the existence of a so-called undivided Adriatic as unacceptable under international law. The sea per se is not and cannot be a succession issue, reads the note, as it belongs to the mainland that has in the succession process been allocated to the Republic of Croatia as one of the successors.

Acts like these question the Slovenian side’s overall validity due to the arbitrary and blatant disregard and violation of the basic principles of international law and relations, reads the response from the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.

The MFAEI would like to point out that this is yet another case of relations straining that is not and cannot be in the interest of Slovenia nor the Slovenian public, which has a right to an objective truth about border issues with the neighbours, as well as a legally founded and unpoliticised approach to the issue of the sea border with Croatia.

The MFAEI would also like to draw attention to the unacceptable policy of the Slovenian side, which refuses to submit the sea border issue to an international legal body on a voluntary and binding basis, while at the same time sharpening its political stance in an ever more clear departure from international law and more open pretensions to the Croatian national territory.

In its response, the MFAEI also points out that such a policy is unacceptable and detrimental from standpoint of SEE stability and security, where it is precisely the consistent observing of international law in border issues that is the most sensitive and crucial principle of a lasting peace. In such circumstances, concludes the note, the Republic of Croatia will remain persistent in reporting to relevant international institutions, namely the relevant UN and EU bodies, as well as other international factors, about such policies of territorial pretensions.