Tone Rop, an MP of Borut Pahor's Social Democrats and a former Prime Minister, made the following statement on the Dnevnik news programme on TV Slovenia, Sunday, 18 June 2007:

"So the recordings have to do with incidents in the Gulf of Piran, right? And there you can see that the Slovenian side had an agreement with Croatia. Actually, the Croatian government gave direct directives on when to stage an accident, and how, just before the elections."

He then continued:

"So the two of them [Janša and Sanader] talked about when an incident would occur in the Gulf of Piran."

The Dnevnik daily has published an article with the following headline: Rop:"Sanader and Janša arranged incidents in the Gulf", subtitled: "Incidents in the Gulf of Piran organised as Croatian support for Janša before the elections".

The claims made by the SD deputy and former Prime Minister, Anton Rop, which he reiterated in his public statement of 18 June 2007, are untrue, harmful and offensive. If his allegations contained at least a grain of truth, Rop would surely have used such shocking information before the elections. In any case, he should inform the competent authorities  responsible for determining criminal liability about this.

With regard to this, the Slovene Intelligence and Security Agency has officially informed the Office of the Prime Minister as follows:

"Upon reviewing documentary materials and the agency's records, it was established that these do contain any findings of the monitoring of international communication lines that would contain a discussion between the then MP Janez Janša and the then Croatian PM."

When the reports, officially sent by SOVA to the incumbent PM Rop, were reviewed, it was established that none contained these claims.

Both facts suggest that Rop cannot base the statements he made on 17 June on any official information or possible disinformation on behalf of SOVA. If SOVA did eavesdrop on meetings between the leaders of the SDS and HDZ and reported its findings to the PM Rop, then the communication between the incumbent PM and Sova was conducted outside the scope of the agency's official and legal operations. The relevant SOVA documentation contains no mention of this.

The facts disclosed and Rop's statements further confirm the suspicions, which are already being investigated by a government working group responsible for assessing SOVA's operations, that in the past there was a group within the agency which used questionable methods and the resources of secret services outside the legal framework, while exploiting the normally legal methods for political gains.

With his allegations, Anton Rop has also harmed Slovenia's international reputation and the country's security, and we therefore expect him to resign immediately. We also expect that his party and its leader, Borut Pahor, will express their position on such conduct as soon as possible.