CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON LJUBLJANSKA BANK DEBT

ZAGREB, March 17 (Hina) - The Croatian government believes that the establishment of a special fund for the compensation of Croatian clients of the former Ljubljanska Bank would not be useful. The government also believes the fund would not be a mechanism which could solve the issue of returning the Ljubljanska Banka debt, the Croatian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.#L# The ministry voiced its position on a report submitted by Erik Jurgens of the Netherlands which was adopted by the Committee on legal affairs and human rights of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. The report proposes a solution for the compensation of former Ljubljanska Bank clients from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro. "The Croatian government has on several occasions informed Jurgens of its standpoints regarding the obligations of the former Ljubljanska Bank. The government regrets the fact that despite the invested efforts Jurgens failed to determine an efficient way of solving the justified requests of numerous citizens of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina", the ministry said in a statement. Slovenia insists that the issue of compensating former Ljubljanska Bank clients should be solved as a succession issue, stressing that Slovenia had not obligations towards those clients. The Slovene delegation to the Council of Europe on Monday expressed satisfaction with Jurgens' proposal and the head of the Slovene delegation warned that setting up the compensation fund would be possible if the case was in the jurisdiction of the European Court for Human Rights. A member of the Slovene delegation said a delegation of Serbia and Montenegro supported a proposal to establish such a fund, stressing that Macedonia's position on the issue was not known because its delegation did not attend the session. Bosnian Prime Minister Adnan Terzic believes the issue should be solved at a bilateral level. (Hina) it sb