Slovenia's Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec on Wednesday denied that any agreement existed by which Slovenia would pay Croatia 278.7 million euros over a period of 30 years to reimburse Croatia for paying out transferred savings of the now defunct Ljubljanska Banka's former clients.
The Croatian Jutarnji List daily on Wednesday reported this as the model outlining a recommendation that two financial experts appointed by the Croatian and Slovenian governments to resolve the issue of Ljubljanska Banka, Zdravko Rogic and France Arhar, have made to to their respective governments, in which case Croatia would forfeit interest due on the said debt.
Arhar commented on the article as a "media spin" by the Croatian side ahead of a fifth meeting between the two experts in Slovenia.
"This was proposed by Rogic but Arhar did not accept and this is just another media preparation by the Croatian side ahead of the next meeting", Erjavec said, adding that this model was unacceptable to Slovenia.
"Arhar and Rogic need to find a joint solution. It is in Slovenia's interest that a solution be found so that Croatia can become a full member of the European Union", he said.
According to Erjavec, Ljubljana advocates that the issue be dealt as a matter of succession to the former Yugoslavia and that former bank clients should be compensated based on the principle of territory regardless of where the bank's headquarters had been located at that time. He said that Croatia had committed to this during its EU accession negotiations.
