If the countries ratify the arbitration agreement by the end of the year, the final decision of the arbitral will be known only in the middle of the term of the next government, sometime in 2014, or even later.
The border issue with Croatia will be settled eventually, but considering historical facts, it will be settled to the detriment of Slovenia, says the commentary.
This is why Slovenians will regret the decisions of Slovenian communist leader Edvard Kardelj, who was so blinded by ideology that he considered national borders in Yugoslavia unimportant.
With an agreement with Croatian politician Vladimir Bakaric, he drew the border between then Yugoslav republics Slovenia and Croatia on the Dragonja instead of the river Mirna.
This means that the arbitration agreement will determine the border in Istria way farther to the north than the Slovenian ethnic boundary stood decades ago. The arbiters will therefore be dividing what is in fact "Slovenia's backyard", Demokracija concludes.
