The presidents of Croatia and Slovenia have encouraged the governments of the two countries to resolve the Ljubljanska Banka issue as soon as possible, saying that they believe that conditions will be created for the timely ratification of Croatia's European Union accession treaty by the Slovenian parliament.
"I absolutely believe that. Slovenia and Croatia have been led and are being led by responsible people. I have no reason to doubt that, taking into account their own national interests, they will do what's best for the two countries," Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said at a joint press conference with his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor after their meeting in Salzburg, Austria on Saturday.
"I don't doubt that, once a solution to Ljubljanska Banka is found based on the Vienna accords (on succession to the former Yugoslavia), a two-thirds majority of Slovenian MPs will meet that expectation," Pahor added.
The two leaders did not discuss details of the Ljubljanska Banka issue, which concerns Yugoslav-era foreign currency savings deposits of Croatian clients with the Zagreb branch of the now defunct Slovenian bank, but expressed their strong support to the prime ministers and governments of the two countries to find the best possible solution. Ljubljana has made the resolution of this issue conditional on its ratification of the Croatian EU accession treaty.
"We didn't go into detail, that's what the two governments are doing, but we expressed strong support to the two governments and prime ministers to find an optimum solution. There is political will for this on both sides," Josipovic said.
Josipovic invited Pahor to visit Zagreb. The visit is expected to take place after an agreement on Ljubljanska Banka is reached or after the Slovenian parliament ratifies the Croatian EU accession treaty. The treaty has so far been ratified by 22 of the 27 EU member states, and Slovenia is the only country that has not even initiated the ratification process. The treaty needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all EU countries so that Croatia can join the EU on July 1 as scheduled.
Pahor recalled that he had recently met with leaders of all Slovenian parliamentary parties, including former Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose government has fallen in the meantime, and that they had discussed the timely ratification of the Croatian treaty.
"In Slovenia agreements mean something. I spoke to the Prime Minister Jansa and the Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec, and I can say without much risk that the accession treaty will be signed in time," Pahor said. "They agreed with it even though they were aware of a possible change of government. I believe that the ratification process, with great patience and responsibility, will be completed in time," he added.
It was the first meeting between Josipovic and Pahor since the latter was elected President last December. They met on the sidelines of a ceremony in Salzburg where they and Russian Federation President Boris Putin were named Protectors of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a title awarded to politicians who support the European idea and cooperation in Europe.
