Vladimir Ibler, a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, said on Friday that the European Commission had not done its task under the border arbitration agreement between the governments of Croatia and Slovenia to provide the parties with a list of candidates from among whom a president and two members of the arbitration tribunal were to be appointed by agreement.
A reputed international law expert, Ibler recalled that the agreement stipulates that all procedural deadlines start to run from the date of signing of Croatia's EU accession treaty, which was 9 December 2011, and that within 15 days of that date the parties should have appointed by agreement a president and two members of the arbitration tribunal, recognised experts in international law from the list of candidates drawn up by the president and a member of the European Commission.
"Since the deadline that began on 9 December has not been complied with, we have been left without a start point of procedural deadlines as a point of reference," Ibler told the media, adding that the implementation of the arbitration agreement had thus been delayed and that it was not clear how long the delay would last.
Ibler said that the European Commission had thus downplayed and practically violated the arbitration agreement, which led to an unforeseen situation.
"Croatia is not responsible at all for being left without a deadline, but it may raise a question as to who is responsible for this unusual situation," Ibler said, adding that it was totally inappropriate to claim that the deadline was ignored because both countries had interim governments, because a country cannot be considered to have stopped being responsible for honouring the assumed commitments because it did not have a new government formed.
Since the 15-day deadline within which the parties were to have appointed a president and two members of the arbitration tribunal has expired, Ibler thinks that the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has the right and duty to perform, without delay, his task under the arbitration agreement and appoint a president and two members of the arbitration tribunal.
He said that the claim by some Slovenian media, such as Dnevnik.si, that it was unclear why the European Commission had failed to submit a list of potential arbiters in due time, was beside the mark, while at the same time they claim that the term of the current ICJ president expires at the beginning of February.
"It is obvious from the context that they are pleased that the term of ICJ President Hisahi Owada expires soon, and they also seem to be pleased that the appointment of arbiters is so late," he added.
The foreign ministers of Croatia and Slovenia, Vesna Pusic and Samuel Zbogar respectively, are scheduled to meet EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele in Brussels on 10 January. It is believed that candidates for the arbitration tribunal will be presented at the meeting.
