"The first and most important message of the Croatian government is that today's arbitration decision does not bind us in any way nor are we thinking about applying its contents. The second message is that Croatia adopted its position on the arbitration very clearly and unambiguously in parliament two years ago today," Plenkovic told reporters after the ruling of the arbitral tribunal on the dispute was presented in The Hague.
He recalled that parliament decided by consensus to withdraw from the arbitration after the "scandalous and unlawful conduct" of Slovenia's representative in the proceedings and a member of the arbitral tribunal, which "compromised and contaminated the whole arbitration process. As of that moment, Croatia decided to withdraw from the process."
"For us, this arbitration has no legal effect, but we remain willing for talks with Slovenia on resolving the outstanding border issue and we don't expect Slovenia to take any unilateral steps after this ruling" which would in any way alter the existing state of affairs along the state border, Plenkovic said, adding that, were that to happen, "Croatia has ways to protect its territory and its interests."
Other states and international organisations should leave the border issue up to Slovenia and Croatia as an outstanding bilateral issue, such as many states in the world have, including members of the European Union and NATO, and which they are resolving bilaterally, Plenkovic said.
"Croatia too believes in peaceful ways of resolving disputes, including in arbitration, but only when it is clean, fair and in line with agreed rules. I believe that any other member state, including Germany, would do exactly as Croatia did, and not continue a process for which it was clearly proved that it could not continue like that."
Germany today called on Croatia to respect and implement the arbitral tribunal's decision. Plenkovic said the US position was "quite different." The US said it would not take sides in the dispute and that the governments of the two neighbours should resolve the dispute bilaterally.
Plenkovic called on all political parties, institutions and stakeholders in Croatian politics to keep a uniform position "on this big issue important for our territorial integrity, important for the border issue," and a consensus on the joint advocacy of Croatian interests internationally and in the relations with Slovenia.
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts said the arbitral tribunal's ruling had no legal effect, following the Croatian parliament's unanimous conclusion of 29 July 2015, and that it was not binding on Croatia in any way.
With respect to the arbitral award rendered today in the arbitration process that Croatia withdrew from because of unlawful acts of Slovenia, the Government of the Republic of Croatia states the following:
Text: Hina