A meeting was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following the resignation of the arbitrator Ronny Abraham, at which the political summit tried to find the best solution for Slovenia in present circumstances. After the meeting Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said that he would give no comment regarding Abraham's resignation. He said however that at the meeting several political representatives were present, along with the members of the cabinets of the president of the government, president of the republic, and of the National Assembly, along with the Slovenian ambassador Vojko Volk and the arbitration agent Mirjam Škrk. They estimated the situation following the resignation of Abraham, and agreed on the steps to be taken.

The first step will be a meeting of all the party leaders on Thursday, and after that the session of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Assembly. Next the government should appoint the new Slovenian arbitrator. Erjavec emphasized that the unilateral withdrawal by Croatia does not put a stop to the arbitration procedure. "According to the international law a unilateral withdrawal is not possible," said Erjavec, who is satisfied with the fact that also the EU is supporting the continuation of the arbitration. He does not expect Croatia to appoint their new arbitrator by August 14, when the term expires. "In that case the Court of Arbitration is entitled to appoint an arbitrator to act on behalf of Croatia," Erjavec added.

He explained his »silence« at the resignation of the Slovenian arbitrator with the agreement made with the president of the government that the statements regarding the topic of arbitration would be given solely by the cabinet of the president of the government.

The outcome will be known next week
There are many opinions regarding where the successor of Ronny Abraham should come from, It is expected, however, that the politics will again try to find a consensus. Some are in favour of finding a reputable foreign lawyer, while the others advocate a domestic expert. It is even possible that the appointment of the arbitrator will be left to the president of the Court of Arbitration.

G. C.
Translated by G. K.