"The Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry sent a note today dismissing allegations by the Slovene Foreign Ministry and strongly protesting against the violation of Croatian territory by Slovene nationals, which is in contravention of the Joint Statement on the Avoidance of Incidents, signed in Brijuni on June 10, 2006, and the spirit of the meeting and the Joint Statement by the Croatian and Slovene prime ministers of September 2, 2006, confirmed by both governments on September 4, 2006," the ministry said.
It also added that Slovenia's response was contrary to the bilateral agreement on the zone and the official site for the performance of border control on Croatian territory on the local border crossing Sveti Martin na Muri - Hotiza.
The bilateral agreement was reached on January 25, 2005 in line with the Agreement on Local Border Traffic and Cooperation, the Agreement on Cross-Border Police Cooperation, and the Protocol on Joint Police Patrols along the Croatian-Slovene border.
The ministry said that it conveyed its deep dissatisfaction with what it called the unjustified politicising of the lawful conduct of Croatian police officers, and of the bilaterally agreed rules of procedure of joint police patrols along the state border on the left bank of the River Mura, as well as with attempts to question a stretch of the land border between the two countries.