Croatian media reported on Thursday that the Zagreb Municipal Court had made a ruling in a case ordering the now defunct Ljubljanska Banka and its successor Nova Ljubljanska Banka to pay back to Croatia the principle sum of 51,074.94 Portuguese escudos, an equivalent of 254.76 euros, plus penalty interest and 15,781 kuna (2,000 euros) in court costs. The non-final ruling attracted media attention as it could set a precedent for other lawsuits in the Ljubljanska Banka case.

Pusic, who is currently in Chile for a summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, reiterated that Croatia was ready to drop the lawsuits in this case if the issue was resolved through negotiation with Slovenia.

"We have said it repeatedly and I am saying it again that Croatia is ready to withdraw the cases before Croatian courts, it's ready to withdraw its powers of attorney to the banks conducting those proceedings, if we manage to find an alternative way of resolving this problem with Slovenia," Pusic said in Santiago, according to a press release from her ministry.

Slovenia wants Croatia to drop the charges in the Ljubljanska Banka case before it ratifies Croatia's EU accession treaty. Croatia is scheduled to join the EU on July 1.

Pusic confirmed she was meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec next week, expressing hope that a solution to the dispute would be found then.

"I think we are very close to it. I think there is an understanding of the seriousness of the situation on both sides and I hope we will resolve this issue successfully," Pusic concluded.

The European Commission on Friday called on Slovenia and Croatia to urgently reach an acceptable solution so that the ratification of the Croatian accession treaty could be completed in time for Croatia to enter the bloc on 1 July as scheduled.