If Slovenia can halt us on the road towards Europe, then we need not have a place in such a Europe, the leader of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), Anto Djapic, said in the parliament on Thursday.
Dragutin Lesar of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) said Rop's statement was unacceptable, and voiced disbelief that the Slovene PM could have said anything like that.
Lesar said the incident, which took place on Croatian territory, was a well-planned operation intended for scoring political points ahead of the Slovene parliamentary elections.
The HNS MP said it was frivolous to engage the EU in the Slovene parliamentarians' refusal to produce their identity papers at the Croatian border.
Milanka Opacic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) voiced regret at Rop's statement, and added that it was not Croatia that violated Slovenia's sovereignty and laws, but the other way around.
Ljubica Lalic of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) branded the conduct of the 12 Slovene politicians as an unwise act done for election purposes.
Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS) called on Slovene politicians to refrain from provocative acts and to try to defuse the situation after the October 3 polls. Poor relations affect the economy of both countries, he added.
Kajin said that Jozko Joras was very well aware in which country he had bought his property, because Joras was defending his right to property before the court in the Croatian town of Buje and not in Piran, Slovenia.
The Liberal Party (LS) most severely condemned the incident. "Yesterday's attempt of the Slovene politicians to cross the border outside the border crossing was an act done on purpose for their promotion ahead of the elections," the LS said in a press release.
This party said the Croatian Interior Ministry had acted properly, and it urged the Foreign Ministry in Zagreb to openly condemn the incident and ask from Ljubljana to officially apologise.
Sabor President Vladimir Seks most strongly deplored the incident.