Apart from linking the Policy Chapter No. 8 called "Competition Policy" with Ljubljanska Banka, Slovenia is going to tie the policy chapter on the free movement of capital, which Croatia is to provisionally close, with the issue of the Slovenian bank.
"Ljubljanska Banka has no access to Croatia's banking market. This is in contravention with the European Union's rules for free movement of capital," Balazic was quoted by the Slovenian news agency STA as saying.
The policy chapter No. 8, on market competition, has not yet been opened within Croatia's European Union membership talks, while the policy chapter No. 4, "Free Movement of Capital", has been opened and is waiting for provisional closing.
"As long as the dispute on Ljubljanska Banka and its clients in Croatia is not settled, Slovenia will not accede to the closing od the policy chapter on market competition within Croatia's EU accession negotiations," Balazic told the "Finance" newspaper on Thursday.
The Slovenian Finance Ministry said on Wednesday it saw the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as the only place to discuss the now-defunct Ljubljanska Banka's debt to depositors outside Slovenia, in former Yugoslav republics.
The ministry was responding to Croatian media allegations that Slovenia will use Croatia's accession negotiations with the European Union on the Free Movement of Capital policy chapter to have the Croatian central bank grant Nova Ljubljanska Banka permission to operate in Croatia.
The ministry said Ljubljana still considered the issue of Ljubljanska Banka's foreign currency savings as an issue of succession to the ex-Yugoslavia which should be settled before the BIS.