Expanding on the Privatisation of the Inter-State Application: the ECtHR’s decision in the Slovenia v Croatia case

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently held that it did not have jurisdiction to hear an inter-State case between Slovenia and Croatia, in relation to the violation of fundamental rights of the Ljubljanska Banka by Croatian companies, for debts dating back to the time of former Yugoslavia. The decision constituted an occasion for the Court to reflect on the legal nature of inter-State applications in relation to the ontology of individual ones. The main allegation of the Slovenian Government in relation to the bank, that it had nationalised right after the independence of the country, was the refusal of Croatian courts to recognise its locus standi to recover various unpaid debts, because of the transformation of the legal...