Brioni Agreement
Drafted | 5 July 1991 |
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Signed | 7 July 1991[1] |
Location | Brijuni, Croatia |
Mediators | |
Signatories | |
Parties | |
Full text | |
hr:Brijunska deklaracija at Wikisource |
The Brioni Agreement, also known as the Brioni Declaration (
The agreement put an end to hostilities between the Yugoslav and Slovene forces in the
Background
On 23 June 1991, as
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
The agreement was prepared at the
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
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.
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
- ^ a b "Brioni Agreement signed". Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
- ^ a b Ahrens 2007, p. 42
- ^ a b c d O'Shea 2005, p. 15
- ^ "Badinter Commission (for the Former Yugoslavia)". Oxford Public International Law. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
- ^ CIA 2002, pp. 59–60
- ^ Mesić 2004, p. 129
- ^ a b c d Stokes 2009, p. 98
- ^ Mesić 2004, pp. 130–131
- ^ Valentić 2010, p. 144
- ^ Mesić 2004, p. 131
- ^ Mesić 2004, pp. 129–131
- ^ UCDP, pp. 1–4
- ^ a b c Ahrens 2007, p. 43
- ^ a b Sharp 1997, p. 10
- ^ a b c O'Shea 2005, p. 16
- ^ Woodward 1995, p. 171
- ^ Miškulin 2010, p. 310
- ^ CIA 2002, pp. 95–97
- ^ a b Woodward 1995, p. 169
- ^ Libal 1997, p. 20
References
- Books
- Ahrens, Geert-Hinrich (2007). Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia. Washington, D.C.: ISBN 978-0-8018-8557-0.
- OCLC 50396958.
- Libal, Michael (1997). Limits of Persuasion: Germany and the Yugoslav Crisis, 1991–1992. Westport, Connecticut: ISBN 978-0-275-95798-8.
- ISBN 978-963-9241-81-7.
- O'Shea, Brendan (2005). The Modern Yugoslav Conflict 1991–1995: Perception, Deception and Dishonesty. London, England: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35705-0.
- Sharp, Jane M. O. (1997). Honest Broker Or Perfidious Albion?: British Policy in Former Yugoslavia. London, England: ISBN 978-1-86030-015-8.
- Stokes, Gale (2009). "Independence and the Fate of Minorities, 1991–1992". In Ingrao, Charles W.; Emmert, Thomas Allan (eds.). Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative. West Lafayette, Indiana: ISBN 978-1-55753-533-7.
- Valentić, Mirko (2010). Rat protiv Hrvatske: 1991. – 1995.; velikosrpski projekti od ideje do realizacije [War Against Croatia: 1991–1995; Greater Serbia Projects from Inception to Implementation] (in Croatian). Slavonski Brod, Croatia: Croatian Institute of History, Department for the History of Slavonia, Srijem and Baranja. ISBN 978-953-6659-51-7.
- ISBN 978-0-8157-9513-1.
- Other sources
- "Brioni Declaration – July 18, 1991" (PDF). Uppsala Conflict Data Program. 8 July 1991. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
- Miškulin, Ivica (October 2010). ""Sladoled i sunce" – Promatračka misija Europske zajednice i Hrvatska, 1991.–1995" ["Ice cream and sun" – European Community Monitor Mission and Croatia, 1991–1995]. Journal of Contemporary History (in Croatian). 42 (2). Croatian Institute of History: 299–337. ISSN 0590-9597.