"The Ministry dismisses the statement Jelko Kacin gave today on the bridge over the River Mura at Sveti Martin na Muri and believes that fomenting incidents for election purposes is entirely inappropriate," the ministry said in a statement.
The bridge over the Mura at Sveti Martin na Muri, as well as the joint site of the local border crossing Sveti Martin na Muri - Hotiza, are on Croatian territory, according to the ministry.
"This fact has been confirmed in the previous diplomatic correspondence between Croatia and Slovenia," reads the statement.
"In the spirit of the joint statement by the two prime ministers and in the interests of people living along the River Mura, the Ministry believes that efforts should be made to implement the agreement on cooperation in reconstruction work on the dyke on the Mura, without raising political tension," the statement read.
Kacin, leader of the opposition LDS party and Slovene representative in the European parliament, said in Hotiza that the Slovene government led by Janez Jansa was ignoring the real problem and that Croatia was continuing work on the construction of a road that was drawing closer to the Murisce settlement, which he said was inhabited exclusively by Slovenes. Those people believe that Croatia is pushing its border closer to their village, while the government is claiming that construction work is being done only on the dyke, according to Kacin.
He accused Croatia of pursuing the policy of accomplished facts by having built the bridge and the border crossing on the Mura and by trying to repair the dyke and in doing so, to change the situation that existed on the border on June 25, 1991.