ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - Open issues between Slovenia and Croatia cannot be solved without the will of both countries' parliaments, Slovene President Milan Kucan told Croatian MPs Wednesday. "We will not be able to solve our open
issues without the will of the two countries' parliaments. Also, it will not be possible to mark a definite land frontier between the two countries and establish the demarcation line at the sea unless both parliaments give their consent", Kucan, who is in a two-day visit to Croatia, said in the Croatian parliament addressing the MPs. According to Kucan, a prepared agreement on demarcation "respects Slovenia's old and natural right to access to the open sea". The Slovene President expressed belief that both countries were mature and responsible states which were able to solve their issues on their own. We do not need mediators and there are no reasons to burden the international community with
ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - Open issues between Slovenia and Croatia
cannot be solved without the will of both countries' parliaments,
Slovene President Milan Kucan told Croatian MPs Wednesday.
"We will not be able to solve our open issues without the will of the
two countries' parliaments. Also, it will not be possible to mark a
definite land frontier between the two countries and establish the
demarcation line at the sea unless both parliaments give their
consent", Kucan, who is in a two-day visit to Croatia, said in the
Croatian parliament addressing the MPs.
According to Kucan, a prepared agreement on demarcation "respects
Slovenia's old and natural right to access to the open sea". The
Slovene President expressed belief that both countries were mature
and responsible states which were able to solve their issues on
their own. We do not need mediators and there are no reasons to
burden the international community with our difficulties, said
Kucan.
He added that conditions were being carefully prepared so that
lives of people in both countries would not be divided by the
Schengen border without mercy. We are also searching for the most
appropriate way of "fulfilling the Ljubanska Banka obligations
towards clients in Croatia, within the general framework of
succession solutions, is being searched for. An agreement on the
regulation of relations regarding the Krsko nuclear power plant has
also been prepared and adjusted, Kucan said.
Emphasising that a peaceful and stable Southeast Europe was of
common interest, Kucan reminded that the Croatian and Slovene
peoples had never mutually fought in the past. In the time of the
break up of the former Yugoslavia, after both countries declared
independence and broke all ties with the former Yugoslav
Federation, the Slovene and Croatian leaderships began to differ in
opinion.
"The two countries' leaderships had different ideas on how to
continue after the break up of Yugoslavia. Conditions in Croatia
were undoubtedly more difficult and complex, and its relations with
Serbia and views on Bosnia's future were very much burdened with the
past", Kucan said.
Slovene President met his host and counterpart Stjepan Mesic and
Zagreb's Archbishop Josip Bozanic on Tuesday. Earlier today, Kucan
held talks with Croatian parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic and
representatives of two opposition parties, Mato Granic of the
Democratic Centre, and Ivo Sanader of the Croatian Democratic
Union.
(hina) np sb