Croatia, Slovenia spar over unresolved issues

19/09/2006

A series of incidents in a disputed border area have raised tensions in recent weeks between the two former Yugoslav republics.

By Kristina Cuk for Southeast European Times in Zagreb – 19/09/06

Slovenian special police film the area around the disputed border with Croatia, near the northern Croatian town of St. Martin, on the Mura River. [Getty Images]

Since declaring their independence from the former Yugoslavia at the start of the 1990s, Croatia and Slovenia have been unable to agree on a number of territorial issues. In recent weeks, incidents have arisen along their disputed border on the Mura River, raising tensions between the two neighbours.

In one, Slovenian police stopped Croatian workers who were cutting down trees along the left bank of the Mura on land claimed by Croatia. Slovenia argued that the owners of the land are Slovenian citizens and that Croatia was attempting to "prejudice" the disputed state border.

On the sixth day of the standoff, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovenian counterpart, Janez Jansa, met at the border and the Slovenian police withdrew. In a mutual statement, the prime ministers agreed that the reconstruction would be carried out with consideration for the rights of the landowners, under the supervision of Croatian and Slovenian firms. Both governments will finance the project.

"The building of the bank on Mura is intended to be solved in the spirit of co-operation and European solidarity," Sanader told Jutarnji list.

But no sooner was this crisis resolved, another developed. Croatian police detained a number of Slovenian journalists who were visiting a northern border area to report on joint Slovenian-Croatian police patrols.

Slovenian police subsequently took up positions in the disputed border zone near the village of Hotiza, cutting down trees, erecting concrete barriers and controlling cross-border traffic. This incident, too, had to be resolved through the intercession of Sanader and Jansa.

Then on Monday, Slovenian police halted Croatian railway works near Hotiza, saying the construction had infringed on Slovenian territory. Ministries in the two countries are said to be working on this matter.

The Mura border zone is not the only point of contention between Croatia and Slovenia. They also disagree on their maritime border in the Piran Bay, as well as a number of other issues such as minority rights and debts owed to Croatian customers of Ljubjlana Bank.

Furthermore, the countries are at odds over how these problems should be tackled. Croatia advocates international arbitration, but Slovenia says it favours settling them bilaterally.