ZAGREB, Nov 19 (Hina) - Croatia has sent a letter to Slovenia responding to Ljubljana's diplomatic notes, and expressed regret at "(Slovenia's) refusal of high-level bilateral talks" on the expansion of Croatia's jurisdiction in the
Adriatic, Croatia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, Nov 19 (Hina) - Croatia has sent a letter to Slovenia
responding to Ljubljana's diplomatic notes, and expressed regret
at "(Slovenia's) refusal of high-level bilateral talks" on the
expansion of Croatia's jurisdiction in the Adriatic, Croatia's
Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. #L#
"Croatia regrets that Slovenia still refuses bilateral dialogue at
a high political level regarding the protection of the Adriatic and
the expansion of Croatia's jurisdiction in the Adriatic Sea," reads
the letter which the Croatian ministry sent to Ljubljana on Tuesday
in the form of a diplomatic note.
Such behaviour hinders efforts to resolve issues of real interest
to Slovenia, the letter said.
Letter went on to say that Slovenia's refusal of dialogue "does not
diminish the legality and legitimacy of the expansion of the
jurisdiction", which Croatia carried out in compliance with the
1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both Croatia and Slovenia
are parties to the document.
The Croatian ministry stresses that Slovenia is incorrect in
asserting that the expansion of jurisdiction at sea requires
consent from neighbouring countries, because the UN convention
does not stipulate any such obligation.
Recalling that in its maritime code Slovenia classified itself as a
country "that cannot declare an exclusive economic zone because of
its geographical position", the Croatian ministry says that the
latest debates in Slovenia indicate that "Slovenia begins changing
its view and showing interest in new areas of the sea", which have
been under Croatia's sovereignty (i.e. territorial waters) since
Croatia gained independence, or those to which Croatia has certain
sovereign rights and jurisdiction (i.e. the outer continental
shelf).
This kind of behaviour on the part of Slovenia could also be
interpreted as "a claim on areas that are under the sovereignty or
sovereign rights of the Republic of Croatia, which is contrary to
international law and completely unacceptable for Croatia".
Croatia rejects Slovenia's attempt to become a party to the 1968
agreement on demarcation of borderlines in the outer continental
shelf, which was signed by the then Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY) and Italy, through notifications on the
succession Ljubljana sent to Croatia and Italy this July, and
Croatia stresses that "notification has no legal effect".
Commenting on Slovenia's allegation that it has access to the open
sea according to the rights it acquired as one of the successors to
the SFRY, the Croatian ministry said that Slovenia as a state has
never had access to the open sea within the former SFRY, nor has it
later acquired that right.
The letter further reads that borders between former republics
(within the then SFRY) became their internationally recognised
frontiers upon the disintegration of the ex-federation, while
border-lines at sea are to be defined in accordance with the UN
convention.
At the end of the letter, the foreign ministry said "it is pleased to
take note of Slovenia's present readiness in principle to start
talks on referring the dispute to an international judicial body".
(hina) ms sb