Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said on Wednesday he would most likely remain in his position until early March and that it was possible that Slovenia would ratify Croatia's EU accession treaty by then, unless the parliament was dissolved for an early election because of the government crisis in the country.
Erjavec was commenting to reporters on the possible withdrawal of three parties from the government of Prime Minister Janez Jansa, including Erjavec's Democratic Party of Pensioners (DESUS). He said that in that case two ministers from this party, including him, would remain in the government until the end of a parliamentary sitting that is due to start in late February and end on March 8.
Erjavec said the Slovenian parliament could ratify the Croatian treaty during that sitting provided that the lawsuits against Ljubljanska Banka in Croatia were dropped.
"That should be done as soon as possible because we don't know how the political situation in Slovenia will unfold. There's still a chance of an early election, in which case it would not be possible even technically to ratify Croatia's accession treaty," Erjavec said.
The bill on the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty should first be adopted by the government, which has not discussed it yet. Its ratification in parliament requires a two-third majority of votes.
The Croatian and Slovenian experts on the Ljubljanska Banka issue, Zdravko Rogic and France Arhar, are scheduled to meet next week for a fifth round of talks in search of a mutually acceptable solution to the dispute.
According to Slovenian media reports, Prime Minister Jansa told a local television station on Tuesday evening that "Croatia will most likely enter the EU on July 1," hinting that the bank dispute could be settled and the treaty ratified in time.
