Croatia PM says country will leave border arbitration with Slovenia

ZAGREB, Croatia – Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic says his government wants to withdraw from border arbitration with Slovenia following revelations that one of the judges had violated rules for the international panel.

Milanovic said Monday the arbitration process, set up in 2011 to help unblock Croatia's EU membership bid, has been compromised by the affair.

Judge Jernej Sokolec has resigned from the five-judge panel after Croatian media last week published leaked phone conversations showing him conferring with a Slovenian government representative, contrary to tribunal rules.

Slovenia has moved to name a new judge to save the process, but Milanovic says that "this is unbearable, we must get out."

The sea and land border dispute has remained unresolved after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in 1990s.