US embassy cable - 04ZAGREB1803

UNCLAS ZAGREB 001803 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PBTS, PHSA, SENV, PREL, HR, SI, Regional Issues 
SUBJECT: CROATIA STILL OPEN TO NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT ON 
MARITIME BOUNDARY 
 
REF: (A) ZAGREB 1737 (B) ZAGREB 1741 
 
SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
------------------- 
 
1. (SBU) Croatia remains open to a negotiated bilateral 
settlement on the Croatia-Slovenia maritime boundary despite 
press reports to the contrary. A much-hyped Slovenian 
proposal to avoid fishing incidents in the Adriatic has not 
yet been presented to the GoC. Two weeks after Slovenian 
parliamentary elections, the maritime boundary issue is still 
very much alive; if Croatia is unable to conclude bilateral 
negotiations with Slovenia on the border, it will press for 
international arbitration. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
NEGOTIATIONS STILL POSSIBLE 
--------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) On October 14, Croatian MFA Director for Central 
Europe and Head of the International Law Department told 
Emboffs that the GoC was still open to a negotiated bilateral 
settlement on the open maritime boundary question with 
Slovenia. If a negotiated agreement proves impossible, the 
GoC is prepared to submit to binding arbitration (reftel A). 
MFA lawyers have not started to prepare their case to present 
before an arbitration court, though they have begun 
collecting relevant documents. 
 
3. (SBU) Our MFA contacts' statements contradict an October 
15 press report that FM Zuzul's formation of a special team 
to handle arbitration meant that Croatia had ruled out a 
bilateral agreement. Our MFA contacts had not heard of any 
such arbitration team. 
 
4. (SBU) Croatian and Slovenian media reported that Slovenia 
would present the Croatian MFA with an "Agreement on the 
Avoidance of Incidents" in the disputed territorial waters of 
the northern Adriatic. On September 30 -- the day Slovenian 
FM Ivo Vajgl announced Slovenia would present its proposal -- 
the Head of EU Politics at the Croatian MFA told us he had 
heard of the proposal only from the newspapers and that he 
had no meetings scheduled with the Slovenian Embassy in 
Zagreb. At the October 14 meeting, our MFA contacts confirmed 
that they have not/not received such agreement from the GoS. 
 
5. (SBU) Our MFA contacts stressed that Croatia will not use 
its recently-proclaimed Fishing and Environmental Protection 
Zone (FEPZ) to press its case on the maritime boundary 
(reftel B). The FEPZ and maritime boundary are completely 
separate questions, although the media and even some GoC 
officials have employed rhetoric equating the FEPZ with 
territorial expansion. The FEPZ lies well south of the 
disputed area. 
DELAWIE 
 
 
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