No confirmation could be obtained today from the Austrian Foreign Ministry as to whether the Croatian government had been informed of Austria's decision.
According to a news item released by the Austrian news agency APA, this preliminary agreement has sparked off a heated debate in Croatia and the news agency assesses that the deal stands no chance of being ratified in Croatia.
The agreement refers to the property confiscated after 1955, APA reports, recalling that the Croatian-Austrian deal also elicited stormy reactions in Italy, which now asks Zagreb to compensate Italians who fled Istria after World War II.