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= Croatia–Slovenia relations = Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia

Croatia–Slovenia relations are foreign relations between Croatia and Slovenia, neighboring countries with a similar culture and comparable in size and population. The two countries also share a similar historical background, since they were both a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire until its collapse after World War I. Similarly, Croatia and Slovenia were both part of Yugoslavia since the end of World War II until its dissolution in 1991. Both countries declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991.

Croatia has an embassy in Ljubljana and two honorary consulates in Maribor and Koper. Slovenia has an embassy in Zagreb and an honorary consulate in Split. The countries share 670 km (420 mi) of common border. Relations between Slovenia and Croatia are generally considered to be friendly, but plagued with a series of unresolved border disputes and other vestiges from the time when both countries were the northernmost part of SFR Yugoslavia.

History
Before 1991, both countries were part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia (with two autonomous provinces Vojvodina and Kosovo) and Slovenia. The six republics were ruled by The League of Communists party under its ruler Josip Broz Tito. After Tito’s death in 1980 the tensions between the republics started to grow and resulted in the referendums regarding independence being held in the late 1990 and early 1991 in Slovenia and Croatia respectively. The situation culminated with Croatia and Slovenia declaring their independences on June 25, 1991.

 On June 26, 1991, a mutual recognition agreement was signed by both countries. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established on February 6, 1992. In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have been engaged in settling bilateral differences, a process which accelerated after the death of Croatian President Franjo Tuđman in 1999.

Since May 2004, Slovenia has been a member of the European Union, whereas Croatia was still negotiating for the admission. This strengthened Slovenian negotiation position in the disputes between the two states. Slovenia has supported the accession of Croatia to the European Union, but has demanded that the opened bilateral questions be resolved before Croatia's accession to the Union.

The problem escalated in 2008 with Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession that lasted into 2009 before the two countries agreed to an EU-sponsored arbitration. On 3 March 2013, Croatia and Slovenia reach an agreement on Ljubljana Bank. A month after that, the Parliament of Slovenia unanimously ratified the Croatian accession treaty.

Border disputes
Main article: Croatia–Slovenia border disputes

The border disputes between the two states concern:


 * the division of former Yugoslav territorial waters, particularly in the Gulf of Piran;
 * the hamlets of Bužini, Mlini, Škodelini and Škrile located to the south of river Dragonja in Istria, which were administered by Croatia from 1954, after the river was re-routed, and which Slovenia claims as part of cadaster municipality Sečovlje;
 * the Sveta Gera (Trdina Peak) in the Žumberak Mountains, with the Slovenian Army occupying barracks that according to the Croatian side lay partially in Croatian territory;
 * the changing meanders of the river Mura, near Hotiza and Sveti Martin na Muri, where the situation in nature differs from the descriptions in official maps and documents.

Slovenia claims that the maritime border in Piran Bay does not go through the middle of the bay, while Croatia claims it does. This is causing problems for fishermen due to there being an undefined area where the naval police of each country may patrol. Related to the border in Piran Bay is Slovenian access to international waters in the form of a corridor which would require Croatia to cede its exclusive rights over at least some of its territorial waters to the west of Umag.

The disputed Dragonja area is located near the Sečovlje-Plovanija official border crossing point, set up by an interim agreement of the two countries in the 1990s.

A referendum regarding the ratification of the agreement on the arbitration between Slovenia and Croatia regarding the Gulf of Piran border dispute was held in Slovenia in June 2010. Croatia and Slovenia agreed to let outside arbitrators come up with a plan to divide the Gulf in 2009 in the hopes of finding a resolution to the dispute and easing Croatia's entry to the Union. Though the parliaments in both Croatia and Slovenia ratified the agreement, the Slovene parliament additionally voted to require a public referendum on the deal. The agreement was supported by 51.54% of voters and opposed by 48.46% of voters. In October 2010, the Slovenian law on the ratification of the agreement was also unanimously recognized by the Slovenian Constitutional Court as being in accordance with the Constitution of Slovenia. The diplomatic notes about the agreement were exchanged between the Government of Slovenia and Government of Croatia on November 25, 2010. The agreement came into force on November 29, 2010.

Croatian exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea
A disputed issue with Croatia was Slovenian and Italian opposition to the proclamation of the Croatian Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone (Exclusive Economic Zone) in the Adriatic Sea.

Slovenia is disputing this, requiring direct access to the international waters. This policy has been in place since late 2004 but excludes the EU countries (namely, Slovenia and Italy).

In the negotiations with the European Union, it was decided that Croatia can proclaim an ecological protection zone for third countries, but not also for the countries of the European Union. About 40% of all the catchment of Slovenian fishermen originates from the zone.

Ljubljana Bank
Another open issue is the financial compensation for the Croatian depositors who lost their savings in the liquidation of the Slovenian-based Yugoslav bank Ljubljana Bank. During SFRY, the said bank had a branch in Zagreb. In December 1991, Croatian authorities allowed the transfer of two thirds of the foreign-currency debt of the Zagreb branch of Ljubljana Bank to a number of Croatian banks. However, some 132,000 clients kept their savings in Ljubljana bank. By 1994, the Slovenian Parliament formed Nova Ljubljanska Banka with the old bank's assets but none of its debts. In 1995, the Croatian bank Privredna banka Zagreb filed a lawsuit against Ljubljana Bank, after the Croatian Ministry of Finance authorized it to do so. In 1997 the Slovenian parliament halted all lawsuits against Ljubljana Bank by foreign citizens. In 2001, the Ministry of Finance extended the lawsuit authorization to Zagrebačka banka.

The two countries signed the 2001 Agreement on Succession Issues, dealing with the succession negotiations after the break-up of Yugoslavia. In 2002, succession negotiations were hosted by the Bank of International Settlements in Basel, but Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina rejected the proposed model in which they would have to reimburse the depositors. The negotiations stalled after that.

In 2010, after the Kosor–Pahor agreement, the Croatian side had reportedly agreed to the Slovenian position, which was a precondition for Croatia to close the negotiations with the EU regarding Chapter 4 of the Acquis on the free movement of capital.

The Slovenian position has been that the compensation is a succession issue. Slovenia also made it their condition for the acceptance of Croatia to the European Union, most recently in July and September 2012. In April 2012 Croatia passed a conclusion according to which this is only a dispute between the bank and its Croatian savers and should be resolved in courts. The European Commission considers this to be a bilateral issue.

On 6 November 2012, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a first-degree verdict in the case of Ališić and Others v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and the “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, finding Slovenia in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordering it to compensate "the applicants and all others in their position" (individual Ljubljana Bank savers). In Croatia, some interpreted this as a precedent for the diplomatic issue, but Slovenian Foreign Minister Erjavec released a statement saying this is a separate issue from the diplomatic issue, rather that the latter was about "transferred debt".

On February 7, 2013, Croatian and Slovenian Foreign Ministers said they had solved the problem of the former Ljubljana Bank, which was threatening to impede Croatia's EU accession in July.

Krško Nuclear Power Plant
"Main article: Krško Nuclear Power Plant"The Krško Nuclear Power Plant is located in Vrbina in the Municipality of Krško, Slovenia. The plant was connected to the power grid on October 2, 1981 and started commercially operating on January 15, 1983. It was built as a joint project by the Slovenian and Croatian governments which were part of Yugoslavia at that time. The operating company Nuklearna elektrarna Krško (NEK) is co-owned by the Slovenian state-owned company Gen-Energija and the Croatian state-owned company Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP). Krško’s license to operate expires in 2043. The power plant produces more than 40% of Slovenia's and 16% of Croatia's power.

The dispute around Krško Nuclear Power Plant started in 1997, when Elektro-Slovenija and NEK decided to increase the costs of operationalization and decommissioning to both Slovenija and Croatia, but Croatia refused to pay those costs. A year later, the Slovenian government nationalized NEK, stopped the supply of power from Krško to HEP, and sued HEP for the unpaid bills. Following that, HEP counter-sued NEK in 1999 for damages caused with the of lack of energy supply. In January 2001, the two countries entered into an agreement on equal ownership of the Krško plant, joint responsibility for the nuclear waste, and the compensation of mutual claims.

The co-management of the plant was set to commence on January 1, 2002 and the plant was expected to start supplying HEP with electricity by July 1, 2002 at the latest. However, the supply was only established in 2003 due to the protests from the local population. Ever since, HEP has additionally sued NEK and Slovenia for damages caused during the one-year period between 2002 and 2003 when NEK did not supply Croatia with power. Finally, in December 2015, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in favor of HEP and the Croatian government, awarding it more than €40 million in damages, interest and attorneys' fees.

Piran bay maritime dispute
The dispute centers around the part of northern Adriatic sea called the Gulf of Piran and dates back to the 1991, when Slovenia and Croatia became independent. Slovenia, which became a part of the EU in 2004, blocked Croatia’s EU accession talks in 2008 due to this issue.

The two countries agreed to hand the matter over to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and with it Croatia was allowed to continue its membership process and join the European Union in July 2013. The agreement was included in Croatia’s accession negotiations in order to lift the veto put forward by the Slovenian government.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled in 2017 that the two-thirds of the waters around Savudrija Bay in Croatia belonged to Slovenia and that Slovenia should have access to the 10 nautical mile-long channel spreading through Croatian waters to give it access to the international part of the Adriatic. Croatia has rejected this decision claiming that The Hague tribunal had been "contaminated" in 2015 by a Slovenian judge on the arbitration panel. The allegations occurred after leaked tapes proved that the mentioned judge disclosed confidential information to the Slovenian government. The Court of Arbitration acknowledged the breach of information but continued the arbitration process claiming the breach was not serious enough. Following the incident, Croatia withdrew from the arbitration process and it continued without its participation.

In March 2018 Slovenia put forward a letter of complaint against the Croatian government to the European Commission due to the non-compliance to the official rulings. The Commission refused to get involved, declaring itself neutral, and Slovenia brought further action against Croatia. In July 2018 it brought a claim before the European Court of Justice wanting it to establish whether Croatia had breached laws of the EU by not respecting the rulings of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Furthermore, it also accused Croatia of violating the Common Fisheries Policy by sending its police force to guard Croatian fishermen in contested waters, and preventing Slovenian inspectors from boarding the fishing boats. The Court of Justice reached its verdict in January 2020 claiming it had no jurisdiction to rule on the dispute and simply advised both sides to resolve their differences. The decision of the court is final and there will be no appeal.

Accession of Croatia to the European Union
The dispute between Croatia and Slovenia over Croatia’s EU accession began in 2008 when Slovenia, already a member of the EU, started to block and slow down Croatia’s accession process due to the long-standing border dispute. More specifically, Slovenian government accused Croatia of unfairly claiming a part of the Adriatic Sea close to the Slovenian city of Piran, and closing off the Slovenian ships to international waters. The issue of Piran bay has been in question since the two countries declared their independence from Yugoslavia. In the late 2008, Slovenia directly blocked Croatia’s opening of new negotiation chapters agains the decision of the rest of the EU member states that encouraged the accession process which resulted in it being heavily criticized.

In 2010, Slovenia blocked the process once more, this time preventing the chapter on freedom of movement from being closed despite Croatia meeting all the criteria necessary. The reason being Croatia’s rejection of Slovenian Bank NLB (Nova Ljubljanska Banka) to the Croatian market. Croatia’s Central Bank (Hrvatska Narodna Banka) has claimed that the NLB owes hundreds of millions of euros to the Croatian government as a result of Croatian nationals having their savings in it during Yugoslavia.

Croatia concluded its EU accession process in 2011 and signed the treaty of accession in 2013 after the two countries set aside the Ljubljana bank dispute and Croatia agreed to suspend the lawsuit against the Slovenian government in which it was seeking reimbursement of funds lost when NLB closed down.  