Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) parliamentarians Gordan Jandrokovic and Jadranka Kosor on Saturday criticised Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec's statement about a possibility of Croatia's non-admission to the EU if no solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue is found, as unacceptable and unwise.
Jandrokovic finds Erjavec's statement to be unacceptable.
Minister Erjavec said on Thursday evening that he would personally do everything to find a solution to the issue with Croatia involving the Ljubljanska Banka, which would enable Slovenia to ratify Croatia's EU Accession Treaty in time for Croatia to join the bloc on 1 July.
"The only condition Slovenia is setting is the withdrawal of lawsuits against Ljubljanska Banka before Croatian courts," Erjavec told Slovenian Television.
If a solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue is not found, not only would Croatia not enter the European Union on 1 July, but Croatia's EU membership could become questionable all together, given the situation in the EU to which enlargement is not a priority at the moment, Erjavec said.
Kosor, a former Croatian prime minister who had agreed with her Slovenian counterpart at the time, Borut Pahor, ways how to proceed with the border demarcation which used to bloc Croatia's European Union accession negotiations for some time, said today in Opatija that Erjavec's statement should be considered seriously.
"Slovenia is an EU member, and Croatia is not yet, therefore his statement should be take into consideration," Kosor said branding Erjavec's statement as unwelcome and unwise.
Erjavec's statement made Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) write on his Twitter account that "If the Slovenians say that we will never come to the EU, it's high time someone told them: 'Perhaps we will not come to the EU, and you will not come to the Adriatic Sea'."
Both Jandrokovic and Kosor, who were participating in the HDZ two-day closed-door meeting in Opatija, criticised the Rijeka mayor's reaction. Jandrokovic labelled that as unacceptable reaction and an act of cheap demagogy and fake patriotism.
In this context, Kosor called for "building bridges with neighbours rather than destroying them".
She said that Obersnel had overreacted in his "emotionally-charged speech".
The government must be pro-active to defuse the tensions, and the two countries' prime ministers should solve the problems, she added.
