January 15, 1992

International recognition of Slovenia and Croatia

All twelve European Community states recognize Slovenia and Croatia

Twelve governments recognized two new states on the same morning — four days after the legal commission they had appointed cleared only one of them without qualification.

A recognition date fixed four weeks in advance

On 15 January 1992, each of the twelve European Community member states recognized the independence of Slovenia and Croatia.

The day had been set on 16 December 1991, when EC foreign ministers invited Yugoslav republics to apply under stated democratic, human-rights, minority-rights and frontier criteria and named 15 January for implementation.

Portugal's foreign minister João de Deus Pinheiro, presiding over the EC Council of Ministers, publicly announced the twelve states' recognition of Slovenia.

The commission's two opinions did not match

The Badinter Arbitration Commission issued Opinions No. 7 and No. 5 on 11 January 1992. It concluded that Slovenia satisfied the EC criteria; on Croatia it found that constitutional minority-rights guarantees were not yet fully adequate.

The EC states went ahead with both recognitions.

Recognition is legally an act of individual states rather than of the Community, and Germany's is dated variously — sources distinguish a December decision, a December diplomatic act, and recognition taking effect on 15 January.

Not the day the breakup began

The listing has the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia beginning to break up on this date. Slovenia and Croatia had adopted independence acts in June 1991, fighting had already come and gone in Slovenia, and Badinter Opinion No. 1 had found in November 1991 that the SFRY was in the process of dissolution.

Nor was 15 January Croatia's first foreign recognition; several states had recognized it earlier. What was new was that recognition now covered the whole European Community.

By the end of the day both republics held recognition from every EC member, which did not stop the war in Croatia or complete Yugoslavia's dissolution.

Sources

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What the sources leave uncertain

The 15 January collective milestone is well supported, but recognition is legally an act of individual states. Germany announced recognition earlier; sources distinguish among its December decision, a December diplomatic act and recognition taking effect on 15 January.
Recognition did not create Slovenian or Croatian independence on this date. Both had adopted independence acts in June 1991, and Croatia severed its remaining state-law ties to Yugoslavia in October.