Pahor's office said in a press release that during his meeting with Croatian PM Jadranka Kosor on Saturday, he accepted the idea to set up a joint commission to examine the possibility of establishing joint air space control within NATO, but that it was given too much weight in the media and the public.

If any formal and legal steps are made toward that, decisions on the matter will be made by official Slovenian and NATO bodies, said the press release.

Aside from commenting on Croatian print media speculations about a joint purchase of fighter jets for joint air space control, Pahor was also indirectly commenting on today's statement by Slovenian President Danilo Tuerk to the press in Zagreb before meeting his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipovic.

Tuerk said cooperation between two states was a good thing, but that he was surprised by the very idea and how it was presented to the media.

"Slovenia already has an agreement within NATO on the protection of its air space, and I don't see why any change would be required," said Tuerk.