International-Law Analysis of Demarcation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia in the Piran Bay

peer reviewedAfter the collapse of the Former Yugoslavia in 1991, the Republic of Croatia has inherited a few unsolved border disputes with former neighbouring federal republics and now independent states, the most complex of which is the dispute about the land and sea border with the Republic of Slovenia in the Piran Bay area. Although the relevant international-law rules as regards demarcations of sea areas and rights of coastal states over the parts of the sea belonging to them are very clear, the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Slovenia have not succeeded in the past 16 years to reach the compromise regarding the choice of the most suitable and just method of demarcation. Through the presentation of the relevant international-law and domestic-law provisions, the authors analyse the problems of demarcation of territorial sea between coastal states with coastal lines lying opposite to each other or laterally, and they present Croatian and Slovene requirements as regards the demarcation of the Piran Bay, and the jurisdiction of the relevant judicial bodies. Finally, they indicate possible solutions of this complex border dispute which has shown how geographic, political, historical, economical and other characteristics make every demarcation case unique, and how in the plethora of disposable legal rules about the demarcation of sea areas is not always easy to choose the most appropriate solution