“Jadran” commissions sit at the table for the first time: first meeting on October 9 in Zagreb

The first formal meeting of the Montenegrin and Croatian commissions on the issue of the training ship “Jadran” will be held on October 9 in Zagreb, at the initiative of Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, as Vijesti reports.

The Montenegrin commission “for regulating relations with the Republic of Croatia regarding the status of the training ship Jadran as a cultural-historical and military symbol of the state of Montenegro” is headed by Defence Minister Dragan Krapović; the Croatian side is represented by the Commission for resolving the issue of the return of the training ship “Jadran” and other military property succession issues with Montenegro. According to the government platform, the Montenegrin government took the decision to form the commission on May 7.

Vijesti writes that through this commission Montenegro shows its commitment to preserving cultural and historical heritage, as well as its readiness to strengthen good-neighborly relations with Croatia. As the state leading the EU accession negotiation process, Montenegro seeks the resolution of all open issues with Croatia, with the aim of full membership in the European Union.

Behind the dispute stands the history of the ship: Croatia claims the “Jadran”, built in 1933 in Germany for the Royal Yugoslav Navy, and says it is a Croatian ship that must be returned to Split, to the “Lora” naval base. Montenegro, according to Vijesti, referring to the historical circumstances of the dissolution of the SFRY in 1991 and the 2001 Agreement on the succession of the former Yugoslavia, considers the ship entirely legally its own. Official Zagreb makes the return of the “Jadran” one of the open issues in relations with Montenegro — for this reason Croatia in January 2025 blocked Montenegro from closing Chapter 31 (foreign, security and defence policy); among the other open issues are compensation for the prisoners of Morinj, missing persons and the renaming of the swimming pool in Kotor.

The most important new development came from Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman, who on October 1 said that the “Jadran” is not the only property Croatia is claiming back: according to him, there is ownership documentation worth over $2.7 billion that will be claimed. “We have interactive maps, documents that can prove this,” he said.

On the other hand, Montenegrin Foreign Minister Ervin Ibrahimović said on Friday that bilateral issues should be separated from Montenegro’s EU membership process, and that the claim for $2.7 billion has never reached him. “When I took office as Minister of Foreign Affairs, about ten open issues awaited me. At that time that issue was not on the table and I have not received it on the table,” Ibrahimović said.