On Friday 30 June, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced that the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague granting Slovenia access to international waters would be discussed by the College in Strasbourg on Tuesday 4 July.
The Court's decision will be examined next Tuesday, he told the press in Tallinn. He declined to comment on the decision before he has seen it, promising that he would do so on Tuesday. Juncker added that he had spoken to the Prime Ministers of the two countries concerned over the telephone.
On Thursday 29 June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration granted Slovenia access to international waters at the expense of Croatia. This decision immediately led to a diplomatic stand-off between Ljubljana and Zagreb. In particular, the Croats announced that they would not comply with the Court's decision.
The dispute, which dates back to the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1991, concerns the sovereignty of the Bay of Piran. It hampered Croatia's accession to the EU, until it agreed to allow the matter to be referred to the international justice system. In 2012, Slovenia threatened to block Croatian accession if the land dispute was not resolved (see EUROPE 10662). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Mathieu Bion)