Slovene National Party (SNS) president Zmago Jelincic said on Thursday that Slovenia, as a full member of the European Union, should initiate a procedure to strip Croatia of its status as a candidate for EU membership.
"There is no place in the EU for a country with such an aggressive and damaging policy," Jelincic said at a press conference.
Jelincic added that former Slovene foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel had made a mistake for not obstructing Croatia's EU membership bid before it was awarded candidate status.
The SNS said in a press release that Slovenia should have severed all relations with Croatia, including diplomatic relations, and should have closed the border crossings with the country.
"Croatia is attacking the Slovenes and their country as the NDH (Croatian World War Two Nazi-style regime) did," Jelincic said.
The incident will not contribute to improving relations between Slovenia and Croatia, Lojze Peterle and Jelko Kacin said. The two were recently elected members of the European Parliament, Peterle on the list of the Nova Slovenija (New Slovenia) party and Kacin on the list of the ruling Liberal Democrats.
Kacin said that "the crude arrest of Slovene citizens before a Slovene television camera crew and before the eyes of the general public" agitated the feelings "particularly of those who do not care about good neighbourly relations, but who want a new, unnecessary escalation of the situation".
Kacin said he had notified the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament and that the incident had been condemned by the head of this political grouping, Graham Watson.
"To arrest members of parliament and say they did not know who they were is just an unnecessary and inappropriate excuse by the authorities of the neighbouring country," Kacin said, adding that the incident was "a wrong step taken by Croatia on the road to the European Union".
"To detain representatives with parliamentary immunity is unacceptable in the European Union," Kacin said.
Peterle, who is active in the group of Christian Democratic and People's Parties in the European Parliament, said he had informed his parliamentary colleagues about the incident.