Brussels is losing patience over Slovenia and Croatia, namely over a lack of an agreement on Ljubljanska Banka and its Croatian clients, Radio Slovenia reported on Friday recalling that Ljubljana made the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty conditional on resolving Ljubljanska Banka issue.
"The EU's patience is running out," because there is no agreement on the Ljubljanska Banka issue, the radio said carrying a statement by EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele that the EU did not want bilateral 'mines' to explode in the midst of the accession process and that this year was important in EU attempts to preserve credibility of the enlargement process.
Following a political crisis in Slovenia the issue of ratifying Croatia's EU accession treaty has once again made to the top of the list of political topics, notably ahead of a meeting of experts on the Ljubljanska Bank issue, scheduled to be held in Ljubljana next week, and a meeting of Croatian and Slovenian foreign ministers Vesna Pusic and Karl Erjavec, to be organised on the fringes of the EU ministerial meeting in Brussels.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec has expressed moderate optimism that a bilateral solution to the dispute could be found. He also announced that his Pensioners Party (DESUS) would leave the governing coalition on 22 February.
A two-third majority is necessary for the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty in the Slovenian parliament.
