SLOVENE MINISTER COMMENTS ON KRSKO DISPUTE

LJUBLJANA, Nov 30 (Hina) - Slovene Environmental Protection Minister Janez Kopac has said that arbitration proceedings in a dispute regarding the Slovene-Croatian nuclear power plant Krsko would not be in the interest of the plant's owners and that Slovenia is willing to buy Croatia's share in the plant, however, at a lower price that the one offered by the Croatian Power Industry. #L# "As soon as (the Slovene parliament) ratifies the bilateral agreement on Krsko, we will try to resume talks with Croatia about the purchase of its share. This is why we ordered a value assessment from the British Energy company, which has estimated the plant's value at 150 million dollars. The 720 million dollars that is mentioned as the value of Croatia's share is not acceptable for us," Kopac said in an interview with Saturday's issue of "Delo" daily. Kopac expects that the Slovene Constitutional Court would decide by the end of this year if the agreement on Krsko was in contravention of the Constitution, which was the reason why the parliament postponed its ratification. "The Slovene side believes it would not be good if the court establishes that the agreement is not in line with the Constitution, because the talks would have to be repeated, which means that issues which were settled after much effort would be reopened," Kopac said. The minister, who is a co-signatory to the agreement on Krsko, said that the possibility of arbitration, often mentioned in Croatia as the solution to the dispute should the Slovene parliament fail to ratify the agreement, would not be good for either co-owner. Arbitration would be a complex and long process, he said, adding that it was not in the interest of either side. (hina) rml