SLOVENIAN POLITICAL PARTIES COMMENT ON IRAQ ATTACK, REFERENDUM

LJUBLJANA, March 20 (Hina) - The majority of Slovenia's public gave a negative assessment on Thursday of the US-British action against Iraq. Some people believe that this could undermine support for Slovenia's accession to NATO just prior to the coming referendum on that issue. A public opinion poll earlier in the week suggested that the number of those who supported the country's accession to NATO was twice higher than those who opposed it. #L# "The action in Iraq represents a violation of international law and the founding charter of the UN which does not give any grounds for the attack," a professor in international law at the Ljubljana Law Faculty, Borut Bohte, was quoted by the Slovenian Radio as saying. "I regret the action but I believe that voters on Sunday will know how to assess the situation and that it is not tied to our membership to NATO," a former premier and leader of the Christian Democrats, Andrej Bajuk, said on Slovenian Radio. Former Defence Minister and president of the opposition Social Democrats (SDS) Janez Jansa believes that an unsuccessful referendum could be treated as a result of the incumbent government's wrong policies and its failure to cope with the Iraqi crisis. "What is happening in Iraq could in fact increase the number of those who will participate in the referendum about the entry into the EU and NATO and even those who support our accession to the alliance," the head of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee and an MP of the ruling Liberal Democrats, Jelko Kacin said. Miran Potrc, an MP for the coalition of the Associated List of Social Democrats, expressed the opposite stand. "The American behaviour is in the total contradiction to the attitudes of our membership concerning the Iraqi crisis, he said. (hina) sp ms