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History

Before 1991, both countries were part of Yugoslavia. On June 26, 1991, a mutual recognitionagreement was signed by both countries. Diplomatic relations between both countries wereestablished on February 6, 1992.

In a series of high-level meetings since the latter half of 1998, Slovenia and Croatia have beenengaged in settling bilateral differences, a process which accelerated after the death of CroatianPresident Franjo Tuđman in 1999.

Since May 2004, Slovenia has been a member of the European Union, whereas Croatia was stillnegotiating 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, buthas demanded that the opened bilateral questions be resolved before Croatia's accession to theUnion.

The problem escalated in 2008 with Slovenia's blockade of Croatia's EU accession that lasted into2009 before the two countries agreed to an EU-sponsored arbitration. On 3 March 2013, Croatia

and Slovenia reach an agreement on Ljubljanska Banka. A month after that, the Parliament of Slovenia unanimously ratified the Croatian accession treaty.

Issues of contention

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, andwhich Slovenia claims as part of cadaster municipality Sečovlje;

• the Sveta Gera (Trdinov vrh) peak in the Žumberak/Gorjanci, with the Slovenian Army occupying barracks that lay partially in Croatian territory;

• the changing meanders of the river Mura, near Hotiza and Sveti Martin na Muri, where thesituation 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 PiranBay is Slovenian access to international waters in the form of a corridor which would requireCroatia 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, setup by an interim agreement of the two countries in the 1990s.

A referendum regarding the ratification of the agreement on the arbitration between Slovenia andCroatia regarding the Gulf of Piran border dispute was held in Slovenia in June 2010. Croatia andSlovenia agreed to let outside arbitrators come up with a plan to divide the Gulf in 2009 in thehopes 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.[1] The agreement was supported by 51.54% of voters and opposed by 48.46% of voters.[2] In October 2010, the Slovenian law on the ratificationof the agreement was also unanimously recognized by the Slovenian Constitutional Court as being

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in accordance with the Constitution of Slovenia.[3] The diplomatic notes about the agreement wereexchanged between the Government of Slovenia and Government of Croatia on November 25,2010. The agreement came into force on November 29, 2010.[4]

Croatian exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic Sea

A disputed issue with Croatia was Slovenian and Italian opposition to the proclamation of theCroatian 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.[5]

Ljubljanska banka

Another open issue is the financial compensation for the Croatian depositors who lost their savingsin the liquidation of the Slovenian-based Yugoslav bank Ljubljanska banka. During SFRY, the said bank had a branch in Zagreb.[6] In December 1991, Croatian authorities allowed the transfer of twothirds of the foreign-currency debt of the Zagreb branch of Ljubljanska banka to a number of Croatian banks.[7] However, some 132,000 clients kept their savings in Ljubljanska banka.[6][7]By 1994, the Slovenian Parliament formed Nova Ljubljanska Banka with the old bank's assets butnone of its debts.[7] In 1995, the Croatian bank Privredna banka Zagreb filed a lawsuit againstLjubljanska banka,[6][8] after the Croatian Ministry of Finance authorized it to do so.[7] In 1997the Slovenian parliament halted all lawsuits against Ljubljanska banka by foreign citizens.[7] In2001, the Ministry of Finance extended the lawsuit authorization to Zagrebačka banka.[7]

The two countries signed the 2001 Agreement on Succession Issues, dealing with the successionnegotiations after the break-up of Yugoslavia.[7] In 2002, succession negotiations were hosted bythe 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 stalledafter that.[7]

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 regardingChapter 4 of the Acquis on the free movement of capital.[8][9][10]

The Slovenian position has been that the compensation is a succession issue. Slovenia also made ittheir condition for the acceptance of Croatia to the European Union, most recently in July and

September 2012.[6] In April 2012 Croatia passed a conclusion according to which this is only adispute between the bank and its Croatian savers and should be resolved in courts.[10] TheEuropean Commission considers this to be a bilateral issue.[11]

On 6 November 2012, the European Court of Human Rights delivered a first-degree verdict in thecase 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 onHuman Rights and ordering it to compensate "the applicants and all others in their position"(individual Ljubljanska banka savers).[12] In Croatia, some interpreted this as a precedent for thediplomatic issue,[13][14] but Slovenian Foreign Minister Erjavec released a statement saying this isa separate issue from the diplomatic issue, rather that the latter was about "transferred debt".[15]

On February 7, 2013, Croatian and Slovenian Foreign Ministers said they had solved the problem of the former Ljubljanska bank, which was threatening to impede Croatia's EU accession in July.[16]