DUBROVNIK, Aug 20 (Hina) - Patience in resolving problems related to the border on the sea in Piran Bay is by no means the sign of Croatia's lack of resoluteness, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told Hina on Tuesday.
DUBROVNIK, Aug 20 (Hina) - Patience in resolving problems related
to the border on the sea in Piran Bay is by no means the sign of
Croatia's lack of resoluteness, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino
Picula told Hina on Tuesday. #L#
"Croatia has different international instruments at its disposal
in solving the border dispute with Slovenia, but before resorting
to them, it wants to solve the dispute through diplomatic
channels," Picula said.
Picula believes that if a bilateral diplomatic solution proves
impossible to reach, Croatia will consider international
arbitration as an acceptable way of solving the dispute.
He also added that Croatia, unlike Slovenia, was not nearing
elections and that "it is willing to tolerate the harsh electoral
rhetoric in Slovenia to a certain degree", particularly in relation
to the problem of the border in Piran Bay. Until they solve the
border dispute, the two countries should avoid incidents and
respect the temporary border in the middle of the bay as envisaged
by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea from 1982, which was also
signed by Croatia and Slovenia, Picula believes.
Croatia has won over Croatian fishermen for a peaceful solution in
Piran Pay and Slovenia should do the same instead of allowing its
police to support Slovene fishermen in violating the Convention,
Picula said.
The Croatian minister is on a visit to Dubrovnik, where he is to hold
an informal meeting with US Senators John McCain and Fred
Thompson.
Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel on Monday suggested that
the agreement signed last year by Croatian Premier Ivica Racan and
his Slovene counterpart Janez Drnvosek, which has been neither
signed nor ratified yet, should be put into force temporarily until
a final agreement on the border was reached or that the current
situation in Piran Bay be put on hold. What Slovenia means by "the
current situation" is control over the largest part of the bay, and
it claims that its police controlled the bay before the two
countries gained independence.
Rupel resolutely dismissed the possibility of new talks on the sea
border. Ljubljana insists on the concept of demarcation in Piran
Bay which is contained in the Drnovsek-Racan agreement that was
initialled last year.
Croatian politicians and experts have refused the document
claiming that it is opposition to the norms and practice of
international law, since there is no precedent in the international
law of the sea for the solution Slovenia has been insisting on - a
corridor to the open sea and pushing back the border in Piran Bay to
300 metres from the Croatian border.
(hina) rml sb