Slovenia's Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec on Tuesday confirmed that his country would lodge an appeal against a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) about Slovenia's liability to pay back "old" foreign-currency savings in the now defunct Ljubljanska Banka.
Minister Erjavec confirmed a statement earlier in the day by the Slovenian Government's representative for matters concerning the succession to the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Rudi Gabrovec, that the ruling from Strassburg was biased and that Slovenia would lodge an appeal.
"I am convinced that Slovenia will win that appeal", Erjavec said. He believes that the ruling by the ECHR in favour of two Bosnian citizens' lawsuit against Slovenia, for failure to pay back foreign savings deposits from the bank's Sarajevo branch, "doesn't portray the factual state" with regard to depositors and their money.
Ljubljanska Banka's Sarajevo branch was nationalised in 1993 which severed any ties between Slovenia and that branch, Erjavec said.
"This ruling is unfounded because this is a matter of succession. I believe that the problem should be resolved within the framework of succession negotiations and not in court", the foreign minister said.
He reflected on the ruling's possible impact on Slovenia's negotiations with Croatia on the savings in the bank, considering that Slovenia has tied the settlement of this issue to the ratification of Croatia's accession treaty with the European Union.
Erjavec said he wanted to make it clear that the ruling would not impact the resolution of the matter with Croatia as Slovenia has already agreed that this issue should be resolved conditional to territory.
He explained that Croatia had already taken over part of the bank's debt toward depositors, transferring this to its public debt, and that the depositors had already been paid out.
