LJUBLJANA, Jan 31(Hina) - In their comments on Friday's meeting in the Slovene resort town of Brdo pri Kranju of the heads of government of the the Quadrilateral Initiative, which includes Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, Slovene
media underlined the group's support for Croatia's speedy admission into the European Union and the interests of Slovenia and Italy to find satisfactory solutions to bilateral issues with Croatia.
LJUBLJANA, Jan 31(Hina) - In their comments on Friday's meeting in the
Slovene resort town of Brdo pri Kranju of the heads of government of
the the Quadrilateral Initiative, which includes Croatia, Hungary,
Italy and Slovenia, Slovene media underlined the group's support for
Croatia's speedy admission into the European Union and the interests
of Slovenia and Italy to find satisfactory solutions to bilateral
issues with Croatia.#L#
The leading Slovene newspaper Delo said in its Saturday issue that the
prime ministers of Slovenia, Italy and Croatia, Anton Rop, Silvio
Berlusconi and Ivo Sanader, had agreed to initiate joint talks on the
protection of the Adriatic Sea at the level of deputy foreign
ministers and at the level of experts.
"We have agreed to put forward a proposal to Croatia for trilateral
talks in an attempt to find a joint solution to the issue of the
Croatian ecological and fishing zone," Rop was quoted as telling
reporters after a separate meeting with his Italian counterpart.
Rop and Berlusconi agreed that efforts should be made to find a
solution with Croatia by June this year, Delo said.
"If we fail in that, we will propose that the European Commission
become involved in resolving this issue, and if that fails, we will
propose that Croatia delay the implementation of the ecological and
fishing zone in the Adriatic," Rop said.
During talks with the Croatian side, Slovenia expressed its interest
in resolving other outstanding bilateral issues with Croatia.
Although Rop is aware that the agreement initialled by the former
prime ministers Janez Drnovsek of Slovenia and Ivica Racan of Croatia
has not been approved by the Croatian parliament and that it is not in
force, it remains "a fact" for Ljubljana, Delo wrote.
The newspaper also said that in negotiations with Croatia, Slovenia
should seek a solution to "the entire border" and that "it would not
be tragic if a solution were to be found through arbitration."
Should Croatia ratify the Vienna Agreement, it would facilitate talks
on other issues, including that of Ljubljanska Banka, Delo said.
(Hina) vm