Asked how Croatia's neighbours in the Western Balkans looked on the disputes between Slovenia and Croatia, Pusic said in Thursday's issue the disputes were being settled and that the two governments had appointed financial experts to find a solution to the bank issue, but added that Croatia had a different approach to the countries in the region aspiring to join the EU.
"Frankly, our neighbouring countries fear that we will do to them what Slovenia is doing to us," she was quoted as saying.
"We have a different approach because geographically and demographically we are immersed in the region," Pusic said, adding that the progress of those countries in the realisation of their European ambitions was also a security issue.
"For our stability and security it is of outstanding importance that the countries in the region which are not in the EU make progress on that path. We have a thousand-kilometre border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It's impossible to imagine Croatia's stability, and I think Slovenia's too, without the stability of the rest of the region."
Pusic voiced hope a "rational" solution would be found to the Ljubljanska Banka issue, as neither side's goal is "to bring the other side to an impasse."
Croatia and Slovenia are trying to find a bilateral solution to the issue, but Bosnia does not agree with Slovenia's position either that it is an issue of succession to the former Yugoslavia, as its former Ljubljanska Banka clients, like Croatian ones, are trying to reclaim their deposits in courts, Pusic said.