Copenhagen, 12/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission hopes to announce its list of candidates to the arbitral (or arbitration) tribunal by the second half of January. On that list, Croatia and Slovenia will nominate, by common accord, the president and two members of the arbitral tribunal set up to resolve the dispute over their common border, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle announced after a meeting between the Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers, Vesna Pusic and Samuel Zbogar, on Tuesday 10 January.
“A common agreement would be a positive political signal for the further development of the good neighbourly relations between the two countries as well as for the Western Balkans regions showing how difficult issues could be solved”, the commissioner stressed.
If the two sides do not manage to agree on who is to make up the tribunal within two weeks after presentation of the list, then the members and the president will be appointed by the president of the International Court of Justice. The tribunal will also include a member representing Croatia, Budislav Vukas, and another representing Slovenia, Jernej Sekolec.
The meeting on 10 January was held to discuss the next stages in implementation of the border arbitration agreement signed by Croatia and Slovenia on 4 November 2009, and also to discuss administrative support to be provided to the arbitral tribunal. (CG/transl.jl)