Vajgl: Slovenia has a moral right to access the open sea

The chairman of the foreign policy committee of the Slovenian parliament, Ivo Vajgl, stated that Slovenia has a “moral right” to access the open sea, which can also be substantiated from the perspective of international law if Croatia considers the “principle of fairness” in border negotiations.

Slovenia was left without a strip of coastline north of Trieste, which was exclusively owned by the local Slovenes, during the border delineations after World War I and World War II, Vajgl stated. “I believe that this is now one of the historical moments for the Slovenian people, a moment in which we will gain or lose something important,” Vajgl said in an interview with Slovenian television late Sunday evening, assessing the situation that arose after Slovenia blocked the continuation of Croatia’s accession process to the European Union, which is conditioned on resolving the bilateral border issue.

“The essence of the problem, in my opinion, is that we Slovenians are a maritime nation and have always been. Access to the open sea is something we have a moral right to. Of course, we must also prove that we have this right under international law based on the state of the border as of June 25, 1991,” Vajgl told Slovenian national television. “If Croatian politics wants long-term good neighborly relations, it will have to correct its stance on this issue. Croatian politics must understand that this is a matter on which we can build long-term good neighborly relations. Negotiations will be necessary, and we cannot remain entrenched in our current positions as that does not lead to a rapprochement of views,” Vajgl said, adding that the issue of access to the open sea is of exceptional practical and emotional significance for Slovenians, and therefore it cannot be unimportant for Croatia if it wishes to build good neighborliness.

“Slovenians have always been a maritime nation; the sea is in our literature and in our hearts, access to the open sea is our moral right, and Croatia will have to understand this,” Vajgl said, adding that he is generally inclined towards compromises and dialogue due to his background as a former diplomat, but this time he supported “the escalation of relations with Croatia through the blockade of accession negotiations, in order to ‘sharpen’ the issue of the maritime border in the eyes of the public and to finally resolve the problem.

“Croatia has a large and beautiful sea, while we only have a piece of sea and a short coastline that history has left us, even though we had a longer coastline, just in a different place,” Vajgl said. Vajgl stated that he does not advocate for redrawing borders, but that the issue of Slovenia’s access to the open sea can be resolved now through negotiations with Croatia, as it carries great weight for Slovenia. Vajgl mentioned that he always emphasizes the importance of the sea for Slovenians and the emotional weight of this issue in discussions with Croatian politicians and legal experts, to whom he usually recounts his feelings when, as a 26-year-old journalist, a Slovenian from Trieste told him that Slovenians lost their coastline located north of that city in the border combinations of great powers after World War I and World War II, and that Croatia could rectify this today by respecting the principle of fairness.

Vajgl said that two years ago, as the then foreign policy advisor to President Janez Drnovšek, he inquired about the opinions of politicians and experts in Croatia on whether the problem of the maritime border and Slovenia’s access to international waters could be resolved based on the principle of fairness. “Drnovšek sent me to Croatia to see if positions could be reconciled because being entrenched in the same positions does not lead to a solution. At that time, in discussions with several politicians and international law experts, including academician Ibler, I concluded that the problem of our access to the open sea is resolvable, and I still believe so. There are many reasonable politicians and experts in Croatia who agree that this can be resolved while respecting the principle of fairness, given that some historical circumstances have not been favorable to the Slovenian people,” Vajgl said in an interview for the weekly program “Interview.” (H)