|Opis:||More than two decades of conflicts and disagreements about the course of the Slovenian - Croatian border will be resolved on the basis of an ad hoc arbitration, established in accordance with the arbitration agreement between the governments of the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia. The agreement was signed, ratified by both parliaments and registered with the UN Secretary-General. The arbitration agreement is a treaty on the basis of which an arbitral tribunal consisting of five members was established. The tribunal has a mandate to finalize and bindingly determine the course of the maritime and land boundary between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia, Slovenia’s junction to the High Sea and the regime for the use of the relevant maritime areas. The arbitral tribunal is by nature supranational regarding its authorizations, for the outcome of the arbitration can interfere with the territorial sovereignty of the country. The timeline of the arbitration process, according to the wording of the arbitration agreement, was bound to the signature date of the Croatian accession treaty with the European Union, although the fixed deadlines were later extended. June the 25th 1991 is specified as a decisive date in the arbitration agreement; all actions by both parties after that date are legally irrelevant for the purposes of the arbitral tribunal.
The state borders between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia are defined in both countries at the constitutional level, but not concretized and marked in nature. The issue of border dispute between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia is divided into two parts: the course of land border and the definition of maritime border. Most of the land border between the two countries is clear. Discrepancies occur mainly on the four terrestrial sections where the principle of uti possidetis iuris is in contradiction with the principle of uti possidetis de facto. With the maritime border, which includes the Bay of Piran issue and territorial access of Slovenia to the high seas, the principle of uti possidetis iuris case is not applicable, therefore only the principle of uti possidetis de facto is relevant for the Republic of Slovenia.
Most of disputable border issues between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia derive from the former federal Yugoslavia times, where the issue of inter-republic borders has never been fully resolved by federal regulations. The internal border changes occurred particularly on the basis of oral agreements made by the highest representatives of the Yugoslav communist regime, especially in the early postwar years after the victory over nazifaschism.
The main complaints regarding the arbitration agreement originate from Articles 3 and 4, which are inseparably connected. In Article 3, there is an unfortunate phrase “Slovenia’s junction to the High Sea”, which does not meet Slovenian demands and is also interpreted diametrically opposite by both countries. Whereas Article 4, which determines the legal basis for the decision, does not include abstract equity – the principle of ex aequo et bono, which could to a great extent give consideration to important historical arguments for Slovenia (e.g. the unjustified separation of c. m. Kaštel and Savudrija from Piran, violation of provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding from 1954 etc.). Regarding the wording of the arbitration agreement, we can assume that the land and the maritime border will be resolved under international law first, afterwards some sort of connection to the high seas for Slovenia will be found and a regime to reach it. According to international law, it is difficult to expect a solution that would give the entire Bay of Piran to the Republic of Slovenia, taking into account that part of its coast belongs to the Republic of Croatia, which therefore has the right of its territorial sea. Regarding previous practice of international tribunals, most likely a method of a modified median line will be applied for deli|