Croatia's prime minister said Monday his country would withdraw from an arbitration tribunal created to resolve a border row with Slovenia, whose judge was forced to quit after being accused of partiality.
"The process has been contaminated... Croatia cannot stay in this arbitration. It has to quit," Zoran Milanovic told reporters after holding a meeting on the issue with opposition parties.
The scandal broke last week after a Croatian newspaper published a series of tapped phone conversations between Slovenian judge Jernej Sekolec and Ljubljana official Simona Drenik, who represented the Foreign Ministry before the court.
In the recordings, the two openly discussed tactics for a ruling favourable to Slovenia. The pair have since resigned.
Milanovic said he expected parliament to back his decision when it convenes on Wednesday.
But Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar rejected the possibility that Croatia could withdraw from the tribunal.
"I believe that the Croatian side, in accordance with international law and rules and the arbitration agreement itself, cannot quit this process," Cerar told reporters.
He added that Slovenia had already begun to search for a new judge.
The tribunal said it would continue with its work as soon as a new representative had been appointed.
Croatia has also appealed to the European Union over the issue.
In 2009, the two former Yugoslav republics signed an EU-backed deal agreeing to create an arbitration tribunal to solve their long-standing dispute over 13 square kilometres (five square miles) of largely uninhabited land and Piran Bay in the northern Adriatic.
Each country was asked to propose a member of the five-member tribunal who would have to be impartial and, therefore, should not discuss the tribunal's work with their government.
Slovenia, which has just 46 kilometres (29 miles) of coastline, believes its access to international waters is at stake because Croatia, whose coast stretches for 1,700 kilometres, wants the border to be drawn down the middle of the disputed bay.
Earlier this month, the arbitration tribunal announced it would decide on the dispute by December. That decision was to be binding for both countries.
Croatia’s prime minister said Monday his country would withdraw from an arbitration tribunal created to resolve a border row with Slovenia, whose judge was forced to quit after being accused of partiality.
“The process has been contaminated… Croatia cannot stay in this arbitration. It has to quit,” Zoran Milanovic told reporters after holding a meeting on the issue with opposition parties.
The scandal broke last week after a Croatian newspaper published a series of tapped phone conversations between Slovenian judge Jernej Sekolec and Ljubljana official Simona Drenik, who represented the Foreign Ministry before the court.
In the recordings, the two openly discussed tactics for a ruling favourable to Slovenia. The pair have since resigned.
Milanovic said he expected parliament to back his decision when it convenes on Wednesday.
But Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar rejected the possibility that Croatia could withdraw from the tribunal.
“I believe that the Croatian side, in accordance with international law and rules and the arbitration agreement itself, cannot quit this process,” Cerar told reporters.
He added that Slovenia had already begun to search for a new judge.
The tribunal said it would continue with its work as soon as a new representative had been appointed.
Croatia has also appealed to the European Union over the issue.
In 2009, the two former Yugoslav republics signed an EU-backed deal agreeing to create an arbitration tribunal to solve their long-standing dispute over 13 square kilometres (five square miles) of largely uninhabited land and Piran Bay in the northern Adriatic.
Each country was asked to propose a member of the five-member tribunal who would have to be impartial and, therefore, should not discuss the tribunal’s work with their government.
Slovenia, which has just 46 kilometres (29 miles) of coastline, believes its access to international waters is at stake because Croatia, whose coast stretches for 1,700 kilometres, wants the border to be drawn down the middle of the disputed bay.
Earlier this month, the arbitration tribunal announced it would decide on the dispute by December. That decision was to be binding for both countries.
