LJUBLJANA, Sept 2 (Hina) - Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel on Monday expressed concern about the development of relations with Croatia with regard to incidents in Piran Bay and "the Joras case", stating that Slovenia would
respond "in an appropriate diplomatic way".
LJUBLJANA, Sept 2 (Hina) - Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
on Monday expressed concern about the development of relations with
Croatia with regard to incidents in Piran Bay and "the Joras case",
stating that Slovenia would respond "in an appropriate diplomatic
way". #L#
"The Joras case is an act of violation of human and political rights
about which I have written to Council of Europe Secretary-General
Walter Schwimmer," Rupel said in an interview with the commercial
TV station POP-TV and the national television.
Slovenia will advise Joras to sue Croatia for the violation of his
rights before the Council of Europe and is willing to help him in
terms of logistics and money, Rupel said.
Rupel said he had discussed the accumulated problems in bilateral
relations with his Croatian counterpart Tonino Picula on Saturday,
and on Monday officially tried to schedule a meeting, but received
no reply.
It is not good if issues related to the sea border in Piran Bay are
settled by fishermen, Rupel said, adding that the Croatian side had
not reacted to proposals forwarded by him and Prime Minister Janez
Drnovsek.
Asked whether the border problem would require international
arbitration, Rupel said it was the last option and that Slovenia had
suggested putting the current situation on hold.
"Backing out of the initialled border agreement, which is the
result of long negotiations, is out of the question. It is built
into Slovene-Croatian relations and will be very useful one day,"
Rupel said.
(hina) rml