The spokesman for Fuele, Peter Stano, told the media on Friday that the Fuele-Erjavec talks would be held during the gathering of the Council of Foreign Affairs, at Slovenia's request.

Fuele and Erjavec are expected to discuss the issue of the now-defunct Ljubljanska Bank and the issue of savings which Croatian clients had deposited with that bank during the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY).

Slovenia insists that Croatia withdraw the power of attorney to two Croatian commercial banks in a lawsuit against Ljubljanska Banka, claiming that the ratification of Croatia's treaty of accession with the EU in the Slovenian parliament would be made conditional on the developments surrounding this issue.

Slovenia has agreed with the proposal that the two countries jointly approach the Bank for International Settlements so that a solution to Ljubljanska Banka and its Croatian depositors can be found based on the agreement on succession to the former Yugoslavia. But resuming negotiations and seeking a final solution within the BIS is possible only if "the Croatian government withdraws the power of attorney in the lawsuits filed at Croatian courts", Erjavec said in his letter to Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic, adding that negotiations were not possible while the lawsuits were active.

The European Commission finds the Ljubljanska bank issue to be a bilateral matter unrelated to the process of the Union's enlargement. Brussels encourages Croatia and Slovenia to solve this issue which can also have multilateral implications owing to the involvement of other countries-successors to the former Yugoslavia.

The Commission firmly believes that all 27 EU member states will ratify the Croatia-EU treaty in time to enable this newcomer to join the Union on 1 July 2013.

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic will also attend the Brussels meeting on Monday as an observer.