"In the decision adopted by the Slovene Parliament, Slovenia has declared a zone in our protected ecological and fishing zone. That decision is completely legally void," the PM said.
Sanader informed MPs that Foreign Affairs and European Integration Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic on Tuesday sent her Slovene counterpart Dimitrij Rupel a letter officially proposing that the issue of demarcation at sea, which is the main stumbling bloc in relations between the two countries, be settled before an international judicial body.
The Croatian government is also willing to have the issue of the land border settled before an international judicial body, the PM added.
"If there are disputes regarding the land border, we are willing to accept (arbitration) because every decision needs two sides," Sanader said.
In its proposal to Slovenia, the government does not use the term 'arbitration', but the term 'an international judicial body', which was chosen after consultations with legal experts, Sanader said, adding that the two countries would determine that judicial body in talks.
Sanader reiterated the government's position that after some 15 years of unsuccessful talks on the sea border the best solution would be to have the dispute settled by an international judicial body.
The PM would not speculate on the reasons for Slovenia's decision to declare the ecological zone and continental shelf, saying Slovenia was probably trying to win a better position before the international arbitration process or was dissatisfied with the recent agreement between Croatia and Italy on the delimitation of continental shelves.
Sanader called on Croatian citizens and MPs not to dramatise the current situation, saying that Slovenia's decision was legally void.
He thanked the Slovene government for its support to Croatia's bid to start membership talks with the EU as well as for the fact that Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Foreign Minister Rupel had separated the issue of support for Croatia's EU integration and outstanding issues between the two countries.
"Our relationship with Slovenia should be based on the principles of good neighbourly relations and friendship because our relations in the former state were the closest, and they will be the closest again when we join the EU. We have many things in common and only a few disputes to settle," Sanader said. "We will not claim what is not ours, but neither will we give away what belongs to us," Sanader said.
His sentence, a paraphrase of a statement made by Marshal Tito, provoked an outburst of laughter in the parliament chamber, to which the PM said: "Comrade Tito was not wrong about everything after all".
The PM then called on the parliament to adopt a conclusion on the Slovene parliament's decision, after which Speaker Vladimir Seks called a session of the Parliament Presidency to discuss a position the parliament would take on the matter.