"Eight years ago, Bosnia refused the proposal that Ljubljanska Banka be a succession issue and to my knowledge Kosovo does not agree wither," said Lesar commenting on the Memorandum of Agreement between Croatia and Slovenia which resolves the issue of the Ljubljanska Banka (LB) and paves the way for Slovenia to ratify Croatia's EU accession treaty, initialed yesterday.

The president of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Daniel Srb, said in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek on Wednesday that the Croatia-Slovenia Memorandum od Agreement on the Ljubljanska Banka issue was a catastrophe and a big defeat of Croatia's diplomacy and the government as all of Slovenia's but none of Croatia's request have been met.

Clearly the Croatian side has only created an impression that the two sides were negotiating and that Croatia would manage to secure something through the negotiations, but nothing has been secured because the conclusion of the negotiations is identical to Slovenia's starting positions, Srb told a news conference.

He said the agreement with Slovenia has been portrayed in the media as a solution of the blockade of the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty, adding however, that was obvious from the start that Slovenians would use this opportunity to the full to annul the issue of the Ljubljanska Banka debts by blackmailing Croatia with the ratification of its EU accession treaty.

We have lost everything we could have lost. The question remains why did we have to endure the show put on of negotiations and secret agreements because for several weeks the government had been creating an impression that it would not back down, although it was clear from the start that this is exactly what would happen, Srb said.