The leader of the political group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, said in Slovenia on Tuesday that he expected Croatia to join the European Union on July 1 and Slovenia to ratify the accession treaty in time.
In case Slovenia does not ratify the treaty in time, the repercussions would be negative not only for Croatia but for Slovenia too, because the credibility of its policy would be diminished, Swoboda told Koper Radio.
The former rapporteur on Croatia said he did not believe that would happen and that Croatia too would make it possible to reach a compromise solution to the Ljubljanska Banka issue.
But it is on Slovenia's policy and prime minister to assume the responsibility that Croatia's accession treaty is ratified in time, thus showing that they act in a European way, said Swoboda.
According to STA news agency, after his brief stay in Koper, en route to Trieste, he again warned that in case it did not ratify the treaty, Slovenia could expect very negative repercussions. He said he could not recall a state completing the accession negotiations and winning a broad consensus on its EU entry and then a member country being late in the ratification of its accession treaty.
Europe expects Slovenia and Croatia to solve their outstanding issues in a way that will not obstruct the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty in Slovenia, Swoboda said, adding that politicians, regardless of developments on the domestic political scene, had the responsibility to make that happen, STA reported.
In Trieste, Swoboda is to attend a conference of Socialist and Democrat MEPs. One of the topics will be the policy on the Western Balkans. One of the speakers will be Igor Luksic, president of Slovenia's Social Democrats, who believes Slovenia should ratify Croatia's EU accession treaty as soon as possible.
