Of the 64 deputies who attended the session, 62 voted for, one abstained and one was against.
Introducing the government-sponsored bill, Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said Slovenia's first step after the law was adopted would be to notify the UN Secretariat General about its ecological zone in the Adriatic, after which it would negotiate with Croatia about the southern border of the zone.
Rupel said that Slovenia had direct access to the open sea when it was part of the former Yugoslavia, that it still had access and that this gave it the right to declare a protected maritime zone. That is why the law, despite the overlapping of Slovenia's ecological zone with that of Croatia, cannot not be interpreted as a territorial claim, he said.
All parties expressed confidence that the law was a decisive response to Croatia showing that the situation regarding demarcation at sea would be returned to the initial position. Only two deputies, members of the Social Democrats and the Liberal Democrats, expressed reservation and doubts regarding the implementation of the law and fears that it would worsen relations with Croatia. Other deputies from the two parties voted for the law.
Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa said in a statement to Slovene Radio the law was Slovenia's response to "Croatia's unilateral move".
In his statement, Jansa welcomed the European Union's decision to launch membership talks with Croatia, adding that that process would help solve outstanding issues between the two countries because Croatia would have to adjust to EU standards.
"Croatia must be aware that what happened with the Drnovsek-Racan agreement in the Croatian parliament can happen with the ratification of Croatia's accession agreement in any of the EU member countries' parliaments," Jansa told Slovene Radio. He added that the opinion of the Slovene public also mattered and that he did not rule out the possibility of a referendum on the ratification of the accession agreement with Croatia by the Slovene parliament.
"The solution of our outstanding issues is in the mutual interest," Jansa said.