Slovenia blocks Croatia's entry into OECD because Croatian politicians do not respect international law

Croatia does not respect international law, and therefore Ljubljana's move to deny it support for joining the OECD is justified, said Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec on Wednesday afternoon.

Slovenia informed EU ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday that it cannot support Croatia's membership in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"We believe that Croatia does not meet the conditions for full membership in the OECD because it does not respect international law, the arbitration agreement, and the decisions of arbitration courts," Erjavec told the portal Siol.net.

According to him, the rule in Europe until now has been that all EU member states automatically meet the conditions for admission to the organisation of the most developed countries, so the EU automatically supported the applications of all member states, but Slovenia opposed such a stance in this case.

"We are doing this because no EU member state has so far gone so far as to deny respect for international law," Erjavec said.

Erjavec confirmed that during the Bled Strategic Forum held in Slovenia at the beginning of the week, he unofficially informed the Secretary-General of the OECD, Jose Angel Gurria, that Slovenia intends to block Croatia's membership bid.

His Croatian counterpart, Marija Pejčinović Burić, said on Wednesday that the interlocutors she spoke with in Bled "were surprised that such a relevant meeting with important topics was used to accuse Croatia of not respecting the rule of law," and added that the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, confirmed to her that the EC does not see it that way.

Slovenian diplomatic sources confirmed that Slovenia withheld support for Croatia during the discussion on the candidacies of EU member states for negotiations and future membership in the OECD, interpreting this step as Croatia not recognizing arbitration on the border and the arbitration ruling made more than two months ago by arbitrators in the arbitration dispute with Slovenia, considering that Slovenia compromised the process by influencing the judges, and does not intend to implement and recognize the arbitration ruling.
This is "disrespect for the rule of law," claim Slovenian diplomats, and they announce other steps in a diplomatic offensive to force Croatia to change its stance and agree to implement the arbitration rulings.

The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) and the Croatian government announced earlier on Wednesday that they are monitoring the discussion among the 35 OECD member states in Paris during September regarding the possible opening of the doors of this organisation of developed countries to new members, and that they will continue to advocate for Croatia's accession to the OECD through contacts with Brussels and all OECD member states.

The OECD currently has 35 member states, the most economically developed countries in the world. At the beginning of the year, Croatia sent a letter of intent to the OECD to join the organisation, wishing to start negotiations after a decision on a new round of its expansion.

Some Slovenian media, such as Slovenian Radio, reported that Hungary also joined the Slovenian stance regarding Croatia's membership in the OECD due to the arbitration dispute in the INA-Mol case.

According to announcements by Slovenian national media, the issue of arbitration will also be an unofficial topic of discussion between Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who is visiting Ljubljana on Thursday, reports the Patria agency.