"Bloodless" wars for Adriatic borders

Croatia and Slovenia have finally moved closer to a deal after 15 years of strife over borders in the Northern Adriatic.

Izvor: DPA

Sunday, 25.03.2007.

11:10

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"Bloodless" wars for Adriatic borders

However, it could be a while before Zagreb and Ljubljana really agree on how and who would rule in the dispute.

A petty, bloodless "war" could continue until then along the contested border in the Bay of Piran, the destination of hundreds of thousands of western tourists each year.

The greatest victims of hostilities so far were Slovenian fishermen, whose nets were seized by the Croatian coast guard, but also a few tourist guides, detained and slapped with entry bans for crossing the border and working illegally.

Croatia has drawn the border right through the middle of the bay, while Slovenia claims more than half of the water surface in order to gain access to the open sea and international waters.

On its part, EU-member Slovenia has deployed the heaviest-caliber weapon in its arsenal, threatening to block Croatia's membership bid if Zagreb refuses to budge on the border.

Croatia, independent since 1991, as is Slovenia, hopes that the upcoming international arbitration would defuse the threat, so it could focus more energy on its other border disputes.

With Montenegro, on the south of its Adriatic Coast, Croatia has been arguing over the Prevlaka peninsula, which allows full strategic control of the Montenegrin Bay of Kotor.

With Serbia, another former real foe, it is negotiating a few islets on river Danube, which draws a part of their border.

Even with Bosnia - which has access to only a few kilometers of the Adriatic coast - Croatia has a dispute since it revealed plans to build a bridge from the mainland to the tip of the Pelješac peninsula.

The move would effectively cut Bosnia out of the international traffic which now must pass the tiny strip of its territory connecting it to the sea.

Bosnia recently agreed to allow the bridge, but under the condition that it would not hinder big ships from entering its port Ploce.

Despite the disputes, Croatia wants to avoid being viewed as the regional bully and blames the problems on its odd, horseshoe shape. Though seven times smaller than Germany, Croatia's 3,320-kilometers border is only 500 kilometers shorter.

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