European Forum

Slovenia to hold referendum on border agreement

On 3 May the Slovenian parliament voted unanimously to hold a legislative referendum on the border arbitration agreement with Croatia on the 6th of June. As a consequence, a no-vote would again hamper the EU integration of Croatia.

Slovenia and Croatia have been unable to agree on their common land and sea border, which has blocked Croatia's EU bid for most of last year, since they both seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991. However, an agreement was signed by Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor in September 2009, allowing Croatia to move forward with its EU accession talks.

The referendum
In the referendum the Slovenians will be asked whether they back the law on ratification of the arbitration agreement – under which the border dispute will be subject to international arbitration – between the two Balkan neighbours. Parliament members ratified the document in April, after opposition parties left in protest for not having enough time to debate the issue.

The centre-right opposition believes the system under which the arbitration panel's ruling on the matter will be legally binding, could be harmful for Slovenian interests and hopes it will be rejected in the referendum, forcing a new round of bilateral negotiations with Croatia.

In addition to the border dispute, Slovenia has to a certain extent continued to put other hurdles in Croatia's accession talks, delaying the opening of some negotiating chapters. In December last year, Slovenia blocked the opening of three negotiation chapters in the areas of fisheries, environment and security policy. However, last month, the Foreign Ministry in Ljubljana said it no longer had any reservations about any of these or other fields.

The Slovenian government is obligated to comply with the results of the referendum.

Sources: Balkan Insight; SE Times; EU Observer