Former Slovenian Premier and one of the three presidential candidates in that country, Borut Pahor, on Friday said that the question of the now defunct Ljubljanska Banka should not have been any reason to sharpen relations with Croatia or to delay the ratification of Croatia's accession treaty.
Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec could have resolved the issue through quiet diplomacy which would not have affected bilateral relations, Pahor said in an interview for the Slovenian "Mladina" weekly.
Pahor utilised this opportunity to promote his campaign in the run-up for the 11 November presidential election, competing against current Centre-right president Danilo Tuerk, and European parliamentarian Milan Zver.
In his response to a letter by the Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic suggesting that both countries go before the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel, Erjavec had stated that he agreed but that Croatia should before that withdraw its power of attorney issued to two Croatia banks for processes currently being conducted before the Croatian courts.
Erjavec believes that Croatia's willingness for both countries to go before the BIS is Croatian confirmation that this is a matter of succession.
In his interview for "Mladina", Pahor said that Croatia's accession treaty should be ratified as soon as possible as the matter over Ljubljanska banka would be regulated as a question of succession in any case.
