 The Badinter <unk> Committee was set up by the Council of Ministers of the European Economic Community ( EEC ) on 27 August 1991 to provide legal advice and criteria for diplomatic recognition to former Yugoslav republics . In late 1991 , the Commission stated , among other things , that Yugoslavia was in the process of dissolution , and that the internal boundaries of Yugoslav republics could not be altered unless freely agreed upon . <unk> in the preservation of Croatia 's pre @-@ war borders , defined by demarcation commissions in 1947 , were the Yugoslav federal constitutional amendments of 1971 and 1974 , granting that sovereign rights were exercised by the federal units , and that the federation had only the authority specifically transferred to it by the constitution . 
