Piran Bay
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Sea border between Slovenia and Croatia according to the Drnovšek-Račan Agreement (never ratified by Croatia, only by Slovenia). |
The
Piran Bay (
Slovenian Piranski zaliv,
Croatian Piranski zaljev, recently also
Savudrijska vala,
Italian Baia di Pirano), named after the town of
Piran, is a bay in the northern part of
Adriatic Sea and part of
Gulf of Trieste. It measures around 20 km².
Since 1991, the border between
Slovenia and
Croatia in Piran Bay has been disputed. The two countries disagree about the border as it was never defined in the
former Yugoslavia. Slovenia claims that
Savudrija was connected with Piran throughout centuries, that Slovenian police always controlled the whole bay between
1954 (dissolution of the
Free Territory of Trieste) and
1991 (breakup of Yugoslavia) so the whole bay should belong to Slovenia.
Croatia, on the other hand, claims that the border line should be equidistant from both shores. In
2001 Janez Drnovšek and
Ivica Račan, then prime ministers of both countries, signed an
agreement about the border between the states. According to that agreement, Croatia would get approximately one third of the bay and grant Slovenia a corridor to
international waters. However, Croatia never ratified this agreement while Slovenia did so soon after it was signed.
After the independence of both nations, Piran Bay has been a place of conflict for fishermen from both countries and the police.
