Montenegro Plans New Commission to Solve Croatia Border Dispute

Montenegrin Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic at a parliament session .Photo: Government of Montenegro

On Wednesday Krivokapic said the former government didn't try enough to solve the dispute, and there were no significant problems on the field.

"The intention of this government is to form a commission that, in agreement with the Croatian side, will try to solve a very complex problem. We need to resolve this because of EU integration, because they will not tolerate unresolved bilateral issues in the accession process," Krivokapic told parliament. "I hope this commission will help resolve this problem," he added.

The dispute over the peninsula dates back to the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the early-1990s. In 1992, Croatia and then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia agreed to demilitarize the area and put it under UN monitoring.

In 2002, the UN mission was effectively ended by the signing of a protocol on an interim regime, under which Prevlaka remained in Croatia while Montenegro was given rights over the surrounding waters.

But the interim regime has never led to a final settlement and, in 2008, both countries agreed in principle to let the International Court of Justice, ICJ, in The Hague, decide the issue

In March 2013, Montenegro's then foreign minister, Igor Luksic, said inter-state commissions would be set up to address the dispute, and that Podgorica and Zagreb could best deal with it themselves.

But, in 2015, Montenegro sent four protest notes to Croatia over its planned oil and gas probe in the waters of the disputed area. Montenegro also sent a note to the UN Division for Oceans and the Law of the Sea, complaining about Croatia's announced start of oil explorations in the Adriatic.

In September...