Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Thursday the memorandum of agreement between the Croatian and Slovenian governments on the settlement of the Ljubljanska Banka issue did not mention the "freezing" of Croatian lawsuits against the Slovenian bank but their "suspension" and that the issue would actually be solved at the European Court of Human Rights.
"Freezing does not exist in law," Milanovic told Croatian Television, adding that the "memorandum is crystal clear" and that it was good for both Croatia and Slovenia.
He regretted that Croatia had been under pressure for a year because of the political situation in Slovenia.
He said the key problem about the now-defunct bank's former clients "aren't Croatian courts... Because if it was so dangerous for Slovenia, the issue would have been solved at a Croatian court in (the past) 20 years and the money returned."
"The problem is before the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where a ruling was already made which essentially obliges Slovenia to return the money to all depositors... from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia... That's the main court where the matter will be dealt with," Milanovic said, adding that Croatia's concern had been to solve the issue of Slovenia's ratification of Croatia's European Union accession treaty.
In the memorandum initialled today, it was agreed that a solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue would be sought within the framework of succession to the former Yugoslavia, that Croatian banks' lawsuits on transferred savings would be suspended, and that the Slovenian government would immediately initiate in parliament the ratification of the Croatian treaty.
