LB issue

FM: Parliamentary debate not necessary over LB deal

07.02.2013 u 16:19

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Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic on Thursday said that an agreement with Slovenia over the Ljubljanska Banka (LB) does not need to be discussed in the Croatian Sabor (parliament), underscoring that the Croatian and Slovenian governments needed to give their opinion on the agreement reached on Wednesday evening.

"The Sabor does not have to discuss this if we do not agree as such with the Slovenian side. However, once the Slovenian side has taken a stance, once we come to agreement, then I will be completely available to release the full information to everyone" Pusic told reporters in parliament.

"At the moment we have something that the Slovenian and Croatian ministers have agreed to as a possible solution. Now we have to see if these are indeed Slovenia's and Croatia's attitude and then when we establish that, we can move on", she added.

Asked by reporters if Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic backed the agreement she reached with her Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec after their marathon talks on Wednesday, Pusic said that she had been in touch with Milanovic the entire time and that he was informed of everything. It is up to him though to present his stance which he is currently consulting over with his cabinet, she added.

Chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee Milorad Pupovac told reporters that the committee would probably be informed on Monday of the agreement with Slovenia and although there is no constitutional obligation for the Sabor to discuss such matters, the committee will certainly give its opinion.

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MP and former foreign minister Gordan Jandrokovic said that his party would not complicate the process and that they expected Slovenia to ratify Croatia's Accession Treaty with the EU but also that a just solution be found to the LB dispute.

We cannot renounce the matters that we have the right to based on international agreements and rules and that means that the Ljubljanska Banka has to pay its debt to Croatian depositors and the Republic of Croatia, he said.

It is up to the government to decide whether it will forward the agreement to the Sabor or not but it would be proper and correct and politically wise for Croatia to have the matter discussed in parliament, said Jandrokovic.