"Drnovsek and I are close friends. We met in the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and cooperated in efforts to stop the aggression launched by Milosevic. We also cooperated after (Slovenia and Croatia) gained independence. We are aware that there are a few outstanding issue and we agree that they should not be an obstacle to our cooperation," Mesic said.
Mesic said that those issues could not be "swept under the carpet" and that they had to be resolved. He added that the agreement between Drnovsek and former Croatian prime minister Ivica Racan, initialled in 2001, was unacceptable to Croatia and that there was no point in insisting on it. Drnovsek was prime minister at the time.
"There is no point in insisting on it regardless of who is in power in Croatia. But it is good that the two governments have set up a commission to discuss the cooperation, and they will probably find room for dealing with those issues," the Croatian president said.
Asked about the problem of Croatian depositors of the Slovene bank Ljubljanska Banka, Mesic said that depositors should not be discriminated against by nationality.
In response to the question about a planned meeting of the presidents of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia to close historical issues from the Second World War, Mesic said that he supported the idea of "closing the World War II book" and that this should be done as soon as possible.
"Speaking of 'foibe' /karst pits in Istria/, a question should be raised as to what caused them. Crimes were committed before them. I know that people should not have been killed without a trial. The war is far behind us, so we can look at it that way. We are talking about the time when the wounds of war were open and great, that is what brought about 'foibe'," Mesic said in response to the question whether he and Drnovsek had agreed a "special strategy" for the trilateral meeting.
"Italian fascists burned our towns and villages, killed our people and sent them to camps. They caused immense economic damage, both in Slovenia and Croatia. This is precisely why we insist that every crime be condemned. It is not right to admit just one crime without also admitting one that preceded it. We can open that book, but we must admit what happened before the 'foibe'," he added.
On the subject of Croatia's progress towards European Union membership, Mesic said that he was not surprised by Slovenia's support and that he was confident that it was "truly friendly".
Speaking of Croatia's cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal and fugitive Croatian army general Ante Gotovina, Mesic said that suspicions about Croatia's credibility had arisen in the international community because of some earlier cases, such as one when Hague tribunal indictee Ivica Rajic had been given false identity, "which gave rise to suspicions that Croatia was trying to hide Gotovina, too".
"Croatia has no reason to hide Gotovina and I insist that it is the last country where he could be. We now have to convince our European friends and the Hague tribunal prosecution that we have done absolutely everything in our power and that he is not here," the president said.
Asked to comment on the destruction of monuments commemorating the WWII Partisan movement in Croatia, particularly that of Marshall Tito in his native village of Kumrovec, Mesic said: "That is banditry. The relevant services must track down those who ordered the destruction of the monuments and the perpetrators. It was the antifascist struggle that enabled creation of the Croatian state. If all the Croats had sided with the NDH /Nazi puppet state/, with the quislings, King Peter and /Serbian Chetnik Movement leader/ Draza Mihajlovic would have returned here and Croatia would not have existed."