LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Croatia and Slovenia have failed to reach an agreement on implementing an international arbitration ruling in a long-standing border dispute that has caused tensions between the European Union neighbors.
The Slovenian and Croatian prime ministers, Miro Cerar and Andrej Plenkovic, met Wednesday for the first time since The Netherlands-based panel granted Slovenia unhindered access to the Adriatic Sea and ruled on several other disputed border issues in June.
Plenkovic reiterated that Croatia will not implement the arbitration court's decision and insisted that territorial issues should be resolved between the two states. Carar says "for Slovenia, the ruling of the Arbitration Court is final and obligatory."
The two countries had agreed to arbitration in 2009 after which Slovenia dropped its opposition to Croatia's EU membership.
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