Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel has explained that his statement at Twitter was intended for Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erajvec and the minister's supporters, and that he only responded, through allusion to an old joke, to the latest statements by the Slovenian official about the Ljubljanska Banka issue and Croatia's forthcoming admission to the European Union, scheduled for 1 July.
My statement is intended for Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec and for those backing him, and it has been a reaction to his statement I read late last night, Obersnel said, stressing that his words at his Twitter account should be seen as a joke.
Following inquiries from the media, Obersnel, who was on an official trip to Germany, said on Saturday evening that he apologised to all who felt insulted by his reaction, except Minister Erjavec.
He also stressed that he found Erjavec's statements to be an act of blackmailing.
Obersnel also noted that his father was Slovenian which was why he felt more free to express himself that way.
Following media reports on statements made by the mayor of the Croatian seaport of Rijeka on his Twitter account, Slovenia's Ambassador in Zagreb, Vojko Volk on Saturday telephoned the mayor Obersnel, according to a report from the Slovenian embassy.
During their telephone conversation, the ambassador explained the meaning of a statement which Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec made during his interview with the national television about the correlations between the Ljubljanska Banka issue and efforts to ratify Croatia's treaty of accession with the European Union in the Slovenian parliament.
Erjavec's statement also made the Rijeka Mayor Obersnel of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) write on his Twitter account that "If the Slovenians say that we will never come to the EU, it's high time someone told them: 'Perhaps we will not come to the EU, and you will not come to the Adriatic Sea'."
According to the press release from the embassy, Ambassador Volk explained that Erjavec's statement should not be perceived as a threat but as an expression of the minister's worries.
Mayor Obersnel thanked the ambassador for the telephone call and explanation. He also explained that he did not mean what it eventually looked like in that what he had written, according to the embassy.
The two interlocutors agreed that they would spare no effort to help finalise the project of Croatia's EU accession successfully.
