CRO. & SLOVENE MINISTERS DISCUSS KRSKO POWER PLANT

ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Croat and Slovene negotiating teams on Friday began a two-day meeting in Zagreb as a prelude to an inter- state agreement on the ownership and status of the Krsko nuclear power plant. Unofficial sources report that the Croatian team is being headed by Economy Minister Nenad Porges while his Slovene counterpart Metod Dragonja is at the head of the Slovene team. Croatia on November 11 rejected a Slovene proposal as "unacceptable". Porges had then said that the issue needed to be resolved as part of an complete inter-state agreement about the status of the power plant. Built by joint Croatian-Slovene funds at the time of the former Yugoslavia, the Krsko plant, located on Slovene territory, has been the cause of disagreement between Croatia and Slovenia with regard to plant management and establishing the price of electric power, and the fact whether Croatia co-owns or invests into the plant. In July this year, the Slovene power supply company switched off transmission lines from Krsko to Croatia with the explanation that Croatia was indebted to the plant. The same day, the Slovene government issued a decree proclaiming Krsko a public company. After the August meeting, the Croat and Slovene ministers reported that Croatia was still not prepared to accept the unilateral decision regarding the power plant. The delegation set a three month period to try and resolve the issue of the power plant as well as the issue of the Ljubljana banka. Minister Porges recently estimated that the three month period was not sufficient to complete negotiations and that "continuation of negotiations could bring satisfactory results", Porges said. Croatia-Slovene relations are threatened by four major issues: the Krsko nuclear power plant, the Ljubljana banka debt toward Croat savers, legal-property issues and the issue of borders. (hina) sp