Brioni Agreement

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Brioni Agreement
Map of Slovenia (green), Croatia (pink) and the remainder of Yugoslavia (pale yellow) at the time of the Brioni Agreement
Drafted5 July 1991
Signed7 July 1991[1]
LocationBrijuni, Croatia
Mediators
Signatories
Parties
Full text
hr:Brijunska deklaracija at Wikisource

The Brioni Agreement, also known as the Brioni Declaration (

European Community (EC) on the Brijuni Islands on 7 July 1991. The agreement sought to create an environment in which further negotiations on the future of Yugoslavia could take place. However, ultimately it isolated the federal prime minister Ante Marković in his efforts to preserve Yugoslavia, and effectively stopped any form of federal influence over Slovenia. This meant the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) would focus on combat in Croatia, creating a precedent of redrawing international borders and staking the EC's interest in resolving the Yugoslav crisis
.

The agreement put an end to hostilities between the Yugoslav and Slovene forces in the

observer mission to monitor implementation of the agreement in Slovenia. Eleven days after the agreement was made, the federal government pulled the JNA out of Slovenia. Conversely, the agreement made no mitigating impact on fighting in Croatia
.

Background

On 23 June 1991, as

SFR Yugoslavia instead. At the same time, the EC decided to suspend direct talks with Slovenia and Croatia. The move was welcomed by the Yugoslav federal government.[2] Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on 25 June,[3][4] and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) units began to deploy from its bases in Slovenia the next day. On 27 June, armed conflict broke out as the JNA and the Territorial Defence Force of Slovenia (TDS) began fighting over control of Slovenia's border posts, in what became the Ten-Day War.[5]

A three-strong EC delegation made three visits to the region in late June and early July to negotiate a political agreement which would facilitate further negotiations. The delegation consisted of the foreign ministers of Luxembourg, as the incumbent holder of the

On 29 June, Croatia and Slovenia agreed to suspend their declarations of independence to allow time for a negotiated settlement. The EC delegation appeared to make progress when Serbia responded to the move by ceasing their opposition to the appointment of a Croatian member of the federal presidency, Stjepan Mesić, as President of the Presidency of Yugoslavia on 30 June. The appearance of a success was reinforced when the JNA ordered its troops posted in Slovenia to return to their barracks.[3] On 1 July, de Michelis was replaced by João de Deus Pinheiro, the Portuguese foreign minister, to maintain the formula of current, former and future EC presidencies comprising the EC delegation as the Netherlands took over the presidency from Luxembourg, while Portugal was scheduled to assume the presidency after the Dutch.[6]

Conference at Brijuni

A further result of the EC delegation's mission were talks attended by representatives of the EC, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and the Yugoslav government. The talks were held at

Vice Admiral Stane Brovet [sr].[8] Croatia was represented by President Franjo Tuđman while President Milan Kučan attended on behalf of Slovenia. Serbia was represented by Borisav Jović, a former Serbian member of the federal presidency who had resigned from the position on 15 June, instead of Milošević who refused to attend.[9] Starting at 8:00 a.m., the EC delegation held separate talks with Kučan and his assistants, then with Tuđman and his assistants, and finally with Jović. In the afternoon, a plenary meeting was held with the federal, Slovene and Croatian delegations in attendance, while Jović reportedly left dissatisfied with the talks.[10]

The agreement was prepared at the

European Community Monitor Mission (ECMM) tasked with monitoring the disengagement of the JNA and the TDS in Slovenia,[13] and ultimately the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia.[15]

Aftermath

Even though little was agreed upon and the agreement was later interpreted differently by its signatories, the Brioni Agreement established the EC's interest in the region and the first EC Ministerial

Conference on Yugoslavia was held in The Hague on 10 July.[15] The ECMM helped calm several standoffs around military barracks in Slovenia and facilitated negotiations between Slovene authorities and the JNA regarding the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia.[13] In Croatia, armed combat continued and the JNA shelled the city of Osijek the same evening the agreement was signed.[15] The federal presidency ordered the complete withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia on 18 July in response to Slovene actions in breach of the Brioni Agreement.[16] The ECMM's scope of work was expanded to include Croatia on 1 September.[17] By mid-September, the war had escalated as the Croatian National Guard and police blockaded the JNA barracks and the JNA embarked on a campaign against Croatian forces.[18]

The Brioni Agreement isolated Marković who tried to preserve the federation, but was ignored by van den Broek who appeared not to comprehend issues presented before him, and the EC delegation tacitly encouraged the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Sabrina Ramet noted that Kučan and Milošević reached an agreement in January 1991 in which Milošević gave his assurances that Slovenia's independence bid would not be opposed by Serbia. In return, Kučan expressed his understanding for Milošević's interest to create a Greater Serbia.[7]

At the time, the EC viewed the agreement as a method of defusing the crisis and failed to attribute the lull which coincided with the Brioni Agreement to a shift in Serbian strategy instead. The EC delegation's failure to respond to Jović's departure before the plenary meeting and the EC foreign ministers' declaration of 10 July indicating the EC would withdraw from mediation if the Brioni Agreement was not implemented only encouraged Serbia which, unlike Slovenia, Croatia, or the Yugoslav federation, had nothing to lose if the EC pulled out.[20] In the end, the EC took credit for a rapid resolution of the armed conflict in Slovenia without realising that its diplomatic efforts had little to do with the situation on the ground.[7]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b "Brioni Agreement signed". Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b Ahrens 2007, p. 42
  3. ^ a b c d O'Shea 2005, p. 15
  4. ^ "Badinter Commission (for the Former Yugoslavia)". Oxford Public International Law. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  5. ^ CIA 2002, pp. 59–60
  6. ^ Mesić 2004, p. 129
  7. ^ a b c d Stokes 2009, p. 98
  8. ^ Mesić 2004, pp. 130–131
  9. ^ Valentić 2010, p. 144
  10. ^ Mesić 2004, p. 131
  11. ^ Mesić 2004, pp. 129–131
  12. ^ UCDP, pp. 1–4
  13. ^ a b c Ahrens 2007, p. 43
  14. ^ a b Sharp 1997, p. 10
  15. ^ a b c O'Shea 2005, p. 16
  16. ^ Woodward 1995, p. 171
  17. ^ Miškulin 2010, p. 310
  18. ^ CIA 2002, pp. 95–97
  19. ^ a b Woodward 1995, p. 169
  20. ^ Libal 1997, p. 20

References

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Other sources