"The Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration fully rejects the allegations from the Slovene diplomatic note and the statement issued by the Slovene Ministry of Foreign Affairs on July 13, 2007, finding them unfounded and against the law," the statement said.
In its protest note, Slovenia emphasised that the land in question was registered in the Slovene land registry, that Croatian authorities were not in charge of the land on June 25, 1991 when the two countries declared independence from the former Yugoslavia, and that Croatia was violating the 2005 Brijuni Declaration on avoidance of border incidents.
"This is indisputably part of the territory of the Republic of Croatia, where Croatian authorities exercised their jurisdiction on June 25, 1999 just as they had before the two countries became independent. The same is today, when local authorities conduct all procedures, including those regarding use of land, according to the relevant laws of the Republic of Croatia," the Croatian ministry said.
The statement concluded by saying that such views represented yet another attempt by Slovenia "to politicise the issue and make a unilateral claim to the state territory of the Republic of Croatia."