Slovenia cancels PMs meeting with Croatia amid border row

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia – Slovenia’s Prime Minister Miro Cerar has cancelled a planned visit next week to Croatia as tensions rose over a border dispute between the two European Union neighbours.

Official STA news agency says Cerar reacted after Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told the United Nations General Assembly an arbitration ruling in the dispute was not valid.

Croatia does not recognize the June decision by a Netherlands-based international panel and won’t implement it. Slovenia insists the ruling is final.

The arbitration granted Slovenia unhindered access to the Adriatic Sea and ruled on several other territorial issues stemming from the 1990s’ breakup of Yugoslavia.

Cerar and Plenkovic had agreed to meet in Croatia’s capital Zagreb on Sept. 27, but Slovenian officials argued Friday the meeting no longer makes sense.