Croatia is willing to solve its bilateral problem with Slovenia concerning the now-defunct Ljubljanska Banka and Croatia's accession treaty with the European Union will be ratified in time to enable Croatia to become an EU full member on 1 July 2013, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said in Zagreb on Saturday.
Asked by reporters whether Slovenia's claim that it would ratify Croatia's treaty after the solution of the Ljubljanska bank issue could be seen as blackmailing, Pusic said she would not see it that way.
"Currently we have 15 ratifications (out of 27 EU member-states), our accession treaty will certainly be ratified in time for Croatia to become an EU member on 1 July 2013," Pusic said at an event which her Croatian People's Party (HNS) was holding in Zagreb on the occasion of the Car-Free Day and the European Mobility Week.
As for the Ljubljanska bank issue, Pusic said that this was one of a dozen outstanding issues in the Croatia-Slovenia bilateral issues.
Recalling that the two countries' financial experts were conducting negotiations on the matter, Pusic said that "We will solve this problem and we are ready to solve it."
Pusic said she would comply with the outcome of the negotiations of the two financial experts.
Asked to comment on the statement of her Slovenian counterpart Karl Erjavec that all possibilities had been exhausted and that it was the problem which should be solved by them as the two ministers, Pusic said that two of them should address "the issue of our European partnership" which was within the jurisdiction of ministers for foreign and European affairs".
Asked how the European Union and the European Commission was perceiving this issue and whether it would affect Croatia's entry into the EU, Pusic said she hoped that Croatia and Slovenia would not need mediation to solve their bilateral problems.
