SLOVENIA'S POPULAR PARTY DEMANDS ANNULMENT OF BORDER AGREEMENT

LJUBLJANA, Aug 27 (Hina) - The Slovene Popular Party (SLS), of which Jozko Joras, the controversial Slovene citizen arrested in Croatia, is a member, on Tuesday demanded that Slovene Prime Minister Janez Drnovsek cancel an initialled agreement on the border with Croatia. Most Slovene parties, however, oppose the proposal because they believe the agreement is a good starting point for future international arbitration. #L# "We are surprised by such demands by a party which is part of Drnovsek's coalition government and which supported the initialled agreement. If international arbitration takes place, the draft agreement agreed on by Prime Ministers Drnovsek and Racan will be a good starting point for us," said the head of the Slovene parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, Jelko Kacin. Kacin is a member of Drnovsek's Liberal Democrats (LDS). Kacin was commenting on a statement by the secretary of the Popular Party, Andrej Vehovar, who said that the Racan-Drnovsek agreement was obviously null and void and new negotiations should be commenced. All the other parties in the ruling coalition have also opposed the idea of backing out of the agreement, as have Janez Jansa's Social Democrats (SDS), the strongest opposition party in the parliament. Analysts in Ljubljana believe the games over the border in Istria and the tug of war in Piran Bay are a front for the upcoming presidential and local elections, in which Slovenia's relations with Croatia will play quite an important role. The City Council of Piran, where Joras is a deputy, on Tuesday discussed relations with Croatia and Joras's arrest, calling on both sides to "calm down the situation" and concentrate on bilateral relations as a mutual political priority. At the same time, the Piran authorities expressed concern over Joras's imprisonment, adding this had prevented him from putting up his candidacy on his party's list in Piran. (hina) sp rml sb