The Slovenian and Croatian experts on the Ljubljanska Banka issue are expected to meet by the end of this month in search of a compromise solution to the issue that Slovenia is using as a condition for the ratification of Croatia's European Union accession treaty, Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec announced in Ljubljana on Wednesday.
Erjavec made the announcement after meeting with the Slovenian expert France Arhar. "I told Arhar to meet with (Croatian expert Zdravko) Rogic as soon as possible and I expect it to happen by the end of this month," he told the press.
Erjavec said that a compromise solution needed to be found so that Slovenia would ratify the treaty and Croatia would become a member of the EU on July 1 as scheduled. "Time is running out, and Slovenia should ratify Croatia's accession treaty by July."
He reiterated that Ljubljana would not ratify the treaty until lawsuits against Ljubljanska Banka before Croatian courts were dropped. "It is not possible to have at the same time lawsuits in courts and negotiations within the Bank for International Settlements in Basel."
When asked to comment on the position of the new Slovenian President Borut Pahor that Slovenia should ratify the treaty as soon as possible, Erjavec said that there was a consensus in Slovenia that the lawsuits before Croatian courts should be withdrawn first, after which the issue would be discussed in Basel as part of negotiations on succession to the former Yugoslavia. He noted that Pahor had said, while he was prime minister, that the issue of Croatian savings deposits with the Zagreb branch of the now defunct bank Ljubljanska Banka was settled and that Croatia agreed that it should be dealt with as a succession issue.
Erjavec said he expected Rogic and Arhar to speed up their activities and come up with a mutually acceptable solution as soon as possible.
