Slovenia lifts veto on Croatia's EU talks 

The parliamentary committee on EU affairs in Ljubljana voted unanimously on Tuesday (29 September) in favour of lifting the veto, the Croatian news agency Hina reported. 

The move follows a decision by the two countries' prime ministers, who recently said the border dispute that had poisoned their relations should not present an obstacle to proceeding with Croatia's EU accession negotiations.

Matijaz Franges, a member of the ruling Social Democratic Party who chaired the parliamentary committee session, said Slovenia would adopt unilateral declarations on the border dispute in order to protect its interests. 

In the meantime, Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor briefed party leaders about the recent agreement struck with his Croatian colleague Jadranka Kosor, asking for their support for future talks on settling the border dispute by arbitration. 

Pahor said the draft arbitration agreement was based on a proposal for settling the dispute tabled by EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, which he said mentioned Slovenia's access to the high seas. 

That provision is a "key article" for Slovenia, as access to the high seas "was and remains sacred," he said. 

Pahor added that he was optimistic and that his cabinet was willing to accept the risk of arbitration. He added that the arbitration agreement would have to be approved by the Slovenian and Croatian parliaments. 

International law expert Dr. Davor Vidas told the Hina news agency that a Slovenian territorial connection with the high seas, no matter whether termed "exit", "contact" or "junction", would be in direct violation of international law. 

Vidas explains that Slovenia has the right of access to the high seas, but not a territorial access, which according to international law is achieved through the territorial sea – the breadth of which can not exceed 12 nautical miles, measured from baselines determined in accordance with international law. 

Slovenia thus cannot be territorially connected to the high sea without violating international law, Vidas argues. He explains that the only way for this to happen is if Croatia gives up a part of its territorial sea. Yet even that would not be legally valid if granted by Croatia to Slovenia directly, thereby exceeding the 12-mile limit of its territorial sea – but only if granted to the international community at large. 

That basically means that a part of Croatian territorial sea would be transformed into the high seas, which would indeed lead to Croatia’s loss of that part of its national maritime area, according to the expert.