LJUBLJANA, May 10 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told a Slovene TV station on Saturday he did not agree with the assessment that Croatia-Slovenia relations were "strained", saying the most important thing was that there was
good will to resolve open issues.
LJUBLJANA, May 10 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told a
Slovene TV station on Saturday he did not agree with the assessment
that Croatia-Slovenia relations were "strained", saying the most
important thing was that there was good will to resolve open issues.
#L#
"The situation is not strained, there are some unresolved issues
but they can be solved and there is mutual political will to resolve
them. This will be the main message of my address in the Slovene
parliament," Mesic said on POP-TV when told his visit to Ljubljana
next week took place when "relations are strained".
Mesic was asked for comment on criticism which followed a speech he
made in Split several months ago during a debate on the expansion of
the economic belt in the Adriatic. He said he had been referring to
the ecological protection of the sea and that such an ecological
belt would not affect the demarcation of the Croatia-Slovenia
border at sea, which he stressed the two states must agree about
themselves.
Asked if joining the EU and NATO would put Slovenia in a stronger
position in negotiations with Croatia, Mesic said one secured its
place in Europe through good relations with neighbours.
Asked how Croatia's upcoming parliamentary election would affect
Zagreb-Ljubljana relations, Mesic said they would neither
deteriorate nor change.
"Elections will take place in late autumn or next spring, but the
relationship with Slovenia won't change. Except that we shall have
resolved many issues by then," he said.
(hina) ha