LJUBLJANA, Oct 4 (Hina) - The Slovene foreign ministry on Friday evening lodged a "sharp protest note" against the Croatian parliament's decision to declare a fishing and ecological zone in the Adriatic Sea, and Slovene Prime Minister
Anton Rop may discuss the issue with European Commission President Romano Prodi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
LJUBLJANA, Oct 4 (Hina) - The Slovene foreign ministry on Friday
evening lodged a "sharp protest note" against the Croatian
parliament's decision to declare a fishing and ecological zone in
the Adriatic Sea, and Slovene Prime Minister Anton Rop may discuss
the issue with European Commission President Romano Prodi and
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. #L#
The state news agency STA reported on Saturday that Rop would meet
Prodi before the start of the Inter-Government Conference on the
reform of the European Union in Rome today, and that he also might
hold a brief meeting with his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi
at a lunch for the heads of government of the 15 EU members and their
colleagues from ten countries that are to join the EU in May next
year.
The Slovene foreign ministry last night issued a statement saying
that the expansion of Croatia's jurisdiction in the Adriatic "is in
contravention of the European manner of coordinated negotiating
and action and protection of the Mediterranean", and that Croatia
"has prejudged the border at sea" with Slovenia and "encroached on
an area which is also under Slovenia's sovereignty and where
Slovenia holds sovereign rights".
The Slovene press reported today that the move of the Ivica Racan
government was motivated by elections and that it would cause a
conflict between the country and the EU.
(hina) rml