Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Court of Justice's Judgment in Case Slovenia v. Croatia

Abstract

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2020 5(2), 1061-1070 | European Forum Insight of 28 October 2020 | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. - II. Judgment of the Court. - III. Analysis and comment. - III.1. The subject matter of the action and the (ir)relevance of European Schools. - III.2. The effects of the final arbitral award within the EU legal order. - IV. Conclusions. | (Abstract) The Slovenia v. Croatia case is a complex and politically charged one. Here, the Court of Justice was indirectly called upon to pronounce on the legal effects of an international arbitral award delimiting the territorial and maritime boundary between two Member States - the validity of which remains fiercely contested by one of the parties. This Insight analyses the Court of Justice's reasoning in the case at hand and argues that, although the Court was arguably caught between a rock and a hard place, its misconstruction of the subject matter of the action and its failure to engage with the res judicata effects of the arbitral award within the EU legal order weaken the persuasive force of its line of argumentation.

Keywords

• territory
• arbitration agreement
• arbitration award
• subject matter of the dispute
• res judicata effects
• international law