The United States expects that Croatia will join the European Union on July 1 and urges Zagreb and Ljubljana to resolve the Ljubljanska Banka issue so that Slovenia can ratify Croatia's EU accession treaty on time, the US Assistant Deputy Secretary of State for European Eurasian Affairs, said on Wednesday.
Croatia is scheduled to become a full member in July. We certainly expect that. We're not a member of the European Union, but that's what we expect, Philip Reeker told a group of reporters in Brussels when asked about ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty by Slovenia.
Noting that the Ljubljanska Banka issue was a complex dispute, Reeker said that the US was not mediating in the dispute between Zagreb and Ljubljana, but was only expressing its view when asked about it.
We encourage both countries to work together and I think that a meeting of the two countries' financial experts on January 22 is a good opportunity to get involved in order to reach a solution. That is important for the EU, for both countries which are neighbours and have a common past and a common future, the US diplomat said.
When asked if the political crisis in Slovenia could affect the ratification of Croatia's EU accession treaty, Reeker said it was important that Slovenia, while dealing with challenges at home, should at the same work on the Ljubljanska Banka issue.
