MESIC SAYS INITIALLED BORDER DEAL WITH SLOVENIA ISN'T VIABLE

ZAGREB/HVAR, Aug 21 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic maintains that an agreement has to be reached with Slovenia regarding the sea border in Piran Bay, and if that is not possible, the issue should be subjected to international arbitration. #L# "The status quo can't be maintained, neither can the deal initialled by (the two countries' prime ministers). The Croatian parliament hasn't ratified it, nor have Croatian experts accepted it," Mesic said in an interview with "Jutarnji list" daily of Wednesday. The President said that Slovenia's insisting that Croatia adopt the agreement led nowhere. "We have to start from the fact that the agreement hasn't been adopted in Croatia and that a new solution has to be found. In doing so we have to meet two strategic goals... to stay a country bordering with Italy and to protect our national interests," said Mesic. He stated that someone in Slovenia was doling out the incidents in Piran Bay, which recently saw Slovene fishermen frequently entering Croatian waters, and that this was linked to impending elections in Slovenia. Someone is trying to score points, he said. Mesic suggested the matter should now be regulated with a local border traffic agreement, in order to improve communication, while a final solution should be sought after the Slovene ballot. As for the case of Piran councillor Josko Joras, a Croatian resident who does not recognise Croatian jurisdiction in his village, which is close to the Slovene border, Mesic said it constituted pure provocation. A law-based state responds to provocation as stipulated by regulations, he stated. Joras hoisted a Slovene flag on his house, which residents from nearby Umag took off, replacing it with a Croatian one. According to Mesic, in this case law enforcement failed to react on time, which led the Umag residents to react to Juras's provocation with another one. "In any case, we mustn't fall for provocation," stated Mesic. (hina) ha