The declaration, which received the votes of 97 deputies, says the Croatian parliament advocates resolving border disputes with Slovenia peacefully and in accordance with the UN Charter and international conventions.
With the declaration, the Croatian parliament concludes that the issue of demarcation of the Croatian-Slovene border at sea should be resolved before international judicial bodies, and supports the initiatives taken by the government in this respect.
All clubs of deputies which took part in the debate maintain that with the declaration the Croatian parliament shows in a dignified and clear manner that it will protect national interests and state sovereignty, and that it will not accept any aspirations to Croatian territory.
Deputies underlined that the declaration strongly supported the government and its initiatives to actively attempt to settle the sea border dispute with Slovenia internationally and to maintain the initiative in the process because, they said, justice is on Croatia's side.
All clubs of deputies called for a peaceful and not quarrelsome relationship with Slovenia as well as for nurturing good neighbourly and friendly relations, while at the same time strongly protecting national interests.
Deputies of the Party of Rights (HSP) and the Peasant Party (HSS) said the only correct way of resolving the dispute was for Croatia to file a complaint with the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Zlatko Tomcic of the HSS said that if all arbitration proceedings failed, Croatia should report Slovenia to the United Nations Security Council.
Tonci Tadic of the HSP said arbitration was much slower, less certain and less just than proceedings before an international court. He added arbitration had to be paid by both sides, whereas court proceedings were paid by the UN.
Ivan Cehok of the Social Liberals/Liberal Party/Democratic Centre club said he could understand Slovenia's aspirations towards Croatia's part of the Adriatic, but added that Slovenia's proclamation of a continental shelf was pointless because Slovenia did not have one.
Ivica Mastruko of the People's Party/Primorje-Gorski Kotar Alliance club said that if Croatia and Slovenia failed to reach an agreement within a reasonable period of time, the Croatian government should draft an arbitration proposal and retain the initiative in the dispute.
Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) said the agreement on the sea border should be frozen for 10-15 years and left up to future politicians.
Tonino Picula of the Social Democrats (SDP) voiced hope that today's parliamentary discussion was one of the last to deal with problems in Croatia-Slovenia relations and that in the future the two countries would turn to each other.