ZAGREB, Jan 11 (Hina) - Slovenia's alleged discovery of a Croatian law on the take-over of ex-Yugoslavia's finance-related legislation is a new form of manipulation Slovenia is using to avoid taking a positive stand concerning
Ljubljanska Bank's obligations to its clients, Croatia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
ZAGREB, Jan 11 (Hina) - Slovenia's alleged discovery of a Croatian
law on the take-over of ex-Yugoslavia's finance-related
legislation is a new form of manipulation Slovenia is using to avoid
taking a positive stand concerning Ljubljanska Bank's obligations
to its clients, Croatia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on
Saturday. #L#
"The mentioned law cannot be referred to in order to back claims by
senior Slovene representatives that Slovenia never had obligations
towards the Croatian clients of Ljubljanska Bank's one-time Zagreb
branch," read the statement.
It added: "Shortly before gaining independence, Slovenia revoked
the Zagreb branch's legal person status, merging it with the
central bank in Ljubljana." Therefore, the law in question cannot
refer to that branch, said the statement.
The Ministry recalls that Slovenia unilaterally turned its
obligation towards Croatian depositors into an issue of succession
to the former Yugoslav federation.
"If this signals that in the future Slovenia will approach the still
unresolved issues left behind after the break-up of the former
joint state by not acknowledging the actual facts, it may be
concluded that Ljubljana does not see its entry to the EU as
signifying the indisputable adoption of the obligation to fully
respect the legal and property security of all doing business with
it," the statement concluded.
(hina) ha sb