Law Experts Say Slovenia Is Successor to Austrian State Treaty

Ljubljana, 16 February

Responding to recent controversy about whether Slovenia is indeed a legal successor to the Austrian State Treaty, which was signed by Yugoslavia, international law experts Borut Bohte and Milan Brglez claim that Slovenia certainly has the right according to international law to succeed Yugoslavia's legal status in the treaty.

Slovenia is not seeking to join the treaty, which is problematised by Austria, instead it is looking to get the legal succession to Yugoslavia, Bohte said in an interview for STA, adding that the doctrine of continuity is applied in international law for multilateral treaties.
After all, the Austrian State Treaty is also a treaty on the border and as such a "dispositive treaty" entitling Slovenia to automatic succession unless the countries agree otherwise, explained Bohte, a professor at the Ljubljana Faculty of Law.
The depositary of the treaty was the Soviet Union (now Russia) and all matters must be handled through the depositary country. Austria cannot take any decisions at its discretion, explained Brglez of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Formally, Austria cannot prevent a notification of succession that Slovenia might send to Russia. The only thing it can do is to convince other parties to the treaty not to accept the notification, which is uncommon in international treaties, according to Brglez.
An additional argument against Austria's interpretation is the fact that Austria recognised Slovenia as an independent country on 15 January 1992. At the same time, it recognised the break-up of Yugoslavia and Slovenia's succession of Yugoslavia, Bohte said.
Although the simplest option for Slovenia would be to enforce its rights under international law and issue a notification of succession, Brglez believes Austria might perceive this as an "unfriendly action".
In his opinion, Slovenia never opted for the notification "to avoid raising too much dust until specific matters are being resolved". Until then, the issue will be handled "diplomatically".
This is how Slovenia resolved must succession issues with Italy - quietly. "The minute this is highlighted as a political issue, the permitted legal formalities are no longer important; everything else becomes important," stressed Bohte.

Law Experts Say Slovenia Is Successor to Austrian State Treaty

More articles from this issue:

Archive