First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic said on Monday in Brussels, where she is currently attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers, that Slovenia would ratify Croatia's EU accession treaty in time and that it would not be the last country to do so.
She further announced that she might this week meet with Slovenia's new negotiator Tone Kajzer over the issue of the now-defunct Ljubljanska Banka.
Pusic was asked by reporters whether the solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue was being slowed down considering that the prime ministers of both countries would not meet before March 10.
"We could be finished by the fourth or the tenth. Of course, it takes two to tango so it will be when both sides decide", Minister Pusic said.
She added that the solution was close and that the two financial experts had completed their task.
Pusic said that she may speak to the new Slovenian negotiator later in the day and arrange a meeting later this week.
"Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec and I had come very close to resolving the matter. The Slovenian side has changed their negotiator due to internal affairs. We don't have any reason to do so", she said.
The two ministers were to have met on Tuesday but their meeting was cancelled because Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa withdrew Erjavec from the negotiations.
Jansa justified this move because of Erjavec's repeated statements in public about his party withdrawing from the government and vacating his ministerial position. He said that as such, Erjavec could jeopardise the negotiations over Ljubljanska Banka.
