Slovenian PM denies police provocations at disputed sea with Croatia

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar insisted on Monday that the behaviour of Slovenian police in the Piran Bay (Savudrija Bay) has not changed as he toured coastal municipality of Piran, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).
Referring to Saturday's encounters of Slovenian police and Croatian police and Croatian fishing boats in the waters, he said that Slovenian police remained on the Slovenian half of the bay and had acted in line with its powers.
"They have no instructions to do something different," he was quoted by the STA report as saying.
After Saturday's trip to the northeastern segment of the Slovenian-Croatian border, Cerar was in the coastal municipality of Piran Monday.
The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) last Thursday awarded Slovenia greater part of the disputed waters and a 2.5-nautical-mile wide, 10-nautical-mile long "junction corridor," thus giving Slovenia access to the High Seas through the Croatian territorial waters.
During the Monday's tour, the prime minister assured government assistance to the population affected by the result of the border arbitration, but voiced against any provocations, including those from fishermen.
He said he wished the PCA's ruling can be implemented in an organized way.
He also said that the government will stay in touch with the affected population through a new task force in charge of the implementation of the border decision, which the government will formally established this week.
Slovenia and Croatia signed an Arbitration Agreement in November 2009.
But Croatia withdrew from the arbitration by invoking Article 60 of the Vienna Convention, which allows termination of an agreement in case of a grave breach.
Croatia was not present in the courtroom of the Peace Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands, and did not attend the announcement of the ruling.
In response to the ruling, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said last Thursday "We do not consider ourselves obliged by this ruling, ...And we do not intend to implement its content."

Source: Xinhua