Slovenia Preparing to Sue Croatia in EU Court Over Territorial Dispute

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said that Ljubljana was preparing to file a lawsuit in the EU court against Zagreb due to Croatia's non-compliance with the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration as for the borders between the two nations.

On Saturday, three Croatian fishing boats accompanied by the nation's police motor boats entered the zone of the maritime space, which Slovenia considered as its territorial waters citing the June ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague as for the disputed parts of the Croatian-Slovenian borders. The ruling rejected by the Croatian side came into effect on Saturday.

"The Croatian police violate Slovenia's sovereignty. It is unacceptable that the foreign state institution could carry out certain activities in our seazone without our approval… We have a lot of materials for a lawsuit," Erjavec said Saturday, as quoted by the Croatian Hina news agency, adding that Ljubljana was collecting such cases in order to prove that Zagreb did not comply with the international law and the decisions of the international court.

The Slovenian minister added that Ljubljana would not give its approval on Zagreb's accession to both the Schengen Area and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) if Croatia did not recognize the court's ruling.

Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. At the same time, this nation is not a member of the eurozone and the OECD, as well as it had not joined the Schengen Area.