Today, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, met representatives of the coalition and opposition parliamentary parties, the leader of the group of unaffiliated MPs, and the MP representing the Hungarian minority to exchange views on resolving outstanding issues between Slovenia and Croatia.
(Photo: Arsen Perić/Salomon 2000)
After the meeting, the PM said it was a continuation of the discussion the same participants had on 6 April, when they agreed that the Government had the mandate to attempt to achieve progress on this issue again and to study the option of including a third party in resolving the issue if a bilateral agreement cannot be reached.
"This is what the Government has done. Through quiet diplomacy we have tested to see if there was a way of achieving progress with regard to the four key outstanding issues between the two countries. It has been shown that positive results are possible in some cases, but not in others," said the PM. On the basis of discussions and agreements, the Government in mid-July formalised an initiative to resolve the four outstanding issues between Slovenia and Croatia and gained the approval of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Assembly. The initiative was then forwarded to the Croatian Government, which issued a reply.
"The reply was partly positive. With regard to some points, the Croatian Government unofficially suggested different solutions. We have discussed this reply today and the general conclusion of this meeting is that solutions to outstanding issues must continue to be sought," said the PM.
(Photo: Primož Lavre/Salomon 2000)
With regard to the status, depositors, debts and claims of the Ljubljanska banka branch in Zagreb, Croatia's reply opens up the possibility of finding a solution in due time, or at least of beginning to address the issue. With regard to the Krško nuclear plant the reply was also mainly positive and contained an additional proposal which both sides will work on to seek an agreement. According to the PM, with regard to fishing and local border traffic (SOPS agreement) the situation has changed since Slovenia joined the EU and in the light of Croatia's negotiations with the latter. The negotiations are also to continue in this area.
With regard to the border issue, the PM said that Slovenia was prepared to include a third party in finding a solution, but only if the constitutional decisions made by both parliaments on 25 June 1991 are observed, if unilateral measures adopted after this date by any of the parties are rejected, and if the best way of including a third party, which would be in the interests of both sides, is found. "There is not a unanimous, but a majority opinion that Slovenia should continue on this path," said Mr Janša, adding that they assessed that in view of the practically unanimous position of all Croatian parliamentary parties, it was not realistic to expect that the majority political opinion would change on this issue, so there was no point in pushing for a bilateral solution if the Croatian side insisted on including a third party.
"From now on, there is majority political consent that a third party is to be included. In the next few days and weeks we will attempt to test what the most appropriate forms are in our discussions with the neighbouring country," said the PM, adding: "Before we make any decisions, we will meet the parliamentary parties again to coordinate our views. Any official steps Slovenia takes depend on this next meeting."
