Government Urged to Set Up Group for Border Issue with Croatia

Ljubljana, 13 February

Deputy Parliament Speaker Marko Pavliha on Tuesday called on the government to appoint a special group that would prepare a draft resolution on Slovenia's policy regarding the settlement of the border issue with Croatia. A similar proposal was made by Borut Suklje, Slovenia's former ambassador to Belgrade.

According to Pavliha, the resolution should include Slovenian positions as already set down in documents adopted by the country so far, among them the White Paper on the Slovenian-Croatian border, which the Foreign Ministry issued in 2006.
The resolution should set down Slovenia's positions as to its land and sea entitlements, which the country should then insist upon in negotiations and which should not be subject to arbitration or court procedure.
As part of this Pavliha quotes the integrity of the Piran Bay, access to the high seas, three settlements south of the river Dragonja (SW), the entire left bank of the river Mura (NE), with the demarcation splitting the river in half, a wooded area around Sneznik (SW) and the cadastral municipality of Sekulici in the southern region of Bela krajina.
The document should furthermore include Slovenian positions on the Slovenian continental shelf and exclusive economic zone, an analysis of viewpoints and measures drawn up in 1994 by FM Dimitrij Rupel, Zoran Thaler, Borut Pahor, Zmago Jelincic, Mitja Deisinger and Vlado Habjan, as well as arguments against the Croatian blue paper, which should be based international law.
The resolution should also include proposals for the settlement of the dispute and Slovenian viewpoints on further support for Croatia's accession to the EU.
According to Pavliha, an MP for the opposition Liberal Democrats (LDS), the resolution should be drafted by an interdisciplinary strategic council of 25 experts headed by the prime minister or foreign minister.
In a similar suggestion, former Slovenian Ambassador to Serbia, Borut Suklje, proposed Prime Minister Janez Jansa should establish a forum that would corroborate the position that Slovenia is a maritime state and as such has a right to access to international waters.
In a column in Tuesday's issue of business daily Finance, Suklje also says that such a body should compose a document listing further steps towards resolving open issues with Croatia.
Suklje points out, however, that such a document would require full consensus among all parliamentary parties.
Pavliha's proposal comes after he called on the government on 31 January to change its tactics towards Croatia saying that the government should discourage Slovenians from spending their holidays in Croatia this year.

Government Urged to Set Up Group for Border Issue with Croatia

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