Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor said on Thursday that Croatia's regulations on fishing area boundaries had no legal bearing on arbitration proceedings that would solve the bilateral border dispute, but added that the adoption of the regulations was a unilateral step against which Slovenia would officially protest tomorrow.
Asked by the press if Slovenia had filed a diplomatic protest note because the Croatian regulations put the sea border demarcation line down the middle of Piran Bay, Pahor said the Foreign Ministry would forward the note on Friday.
"I think one should avoid moves that have no legal bearing and whereby we only make each other angry," said Pahor.
He said the border dispute would be solved by a judgement of the arbitral tribunal, adding that the signing of the arbitration agreement with Croatia had made it possible for his cabinet to focus on economic issues and had a positive impact on security in the region.
Asked if it was justified that some members of Foreign Minister Samuel Zbogar's arbitration commission had resigned or announced resignations, allegedly over his government's "too lukewarm" reaction to the Croatian regulations, Pahor said they had no valid reason to do so and that the commission would continue working.
