Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec on Wednesday said that the proposal put forward by Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic that both countries should jointly approach the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel in the matter over foreign savings accounts held by Croatian citizens in the now defunct Slovenian Ljubljanska Banka is a step in the right direction but that the Croatian government should withdraw legal suits against the bank filed by two Croatian banks.
"Slovenia has no doubts that the issue concerning Ljubljanska Banka is a matter of succession and that it should be referred to the BIS", Erjavec told journalists at the Slovenian foreign ministry in Ljubljana. He confirmed that he had received a letter from the Croatian foreign minister with her proposal about the BIS.
Erjavec said that he was pleased that his Croatian counterpart had made the suggestion in wake of a third meeting of finance experts over the matter scheduled for Thursday in Bled.
However, before any talks begin in Basel, Erjavec believes that Croatia should withdraw its "power of attorney" issued to the Privredna Banka Zagreb and Zagrebacka Banka based on which they sued Ljubljanska Banka at Croatian courts over foreign savings held by Croatian citizens which have been transferred into Croatia's public debt.
"We expect Croatia to withdraw the power of attorney for the suits before any process in Basel begins", Slovenia's minister said, adding that the finance experts would discuss this at their meeting.
"Talks cannot be held at the same time while legal suits are at Croatian courts. That's simply irrational", Erjavec said, adding that he believed that the letter he received from his Croatian counterpart was a sign that the power of attorney would be retracted.
If Croatia was to retract the power of attorney, Slovenia would quickly resume procedures to ratify Croatia's accession treaty with the EU, Erjavec said.
"Slovenia constantly supports Croatia's accession to the EU, naturally this presumes that all contentious issues are resolved", Erjavec told journalists, adding that he hoped the process of Slovenia's ratification of Croatia's accession treaty could now be stepped up.
Slovenia's chief of diplomacy last week in New York said that Croatia had changed its views during negotiations which made him sceptical that the two countries' financial experts would be able to come up with a solution to the issue.
Croatia's foreign minister later stated that Croatia wished to collaborate in finding a solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue but that this could not have anything to do with the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty.
