SLOVENIA'S DISMISSAL OF CROATIAN OBJECTIONS OFFERS NO REASON FOR OPTIMISM - PORGES

OPTIMISM - PORGES ( Editorial: --> 9072 ) ZAGREB, Sept 8 (Hina) - Slovenia's dismissal of most of Croatia's objections to the Slovene Government regulation on the reorganisation of Krsko nuclear power plant is a bad start which offers no reason for optimism in further negotiations, Croatian Economy Minister Nenad Porges said on Tuesday. Slovenia today dismissed most of Croatia's 15 objections to its regulation of 30 July on the transformation of Krsko nuclear power plant into a Slovene public company, which has practically left Croatia out of the plant's management structure. The Slovene power supplier Eles has rejected a request by the Croatian Power Supply (HEP) for Slovenia to pay US $8.6 million of costs caused by the month-long stoppage of electricity supply from Krsko. The Croatian objections have been accepted only partially because Slovenia wants to secure the modernisation of the plant, the Slovene media reported today. If no solution is found, Croatia will not exclude the possibility of the international arbitration for investment disputes from Washington making the final decision in the dispute, Porges said in tonight's interview with the Croatian Television central news broadcast. Croatia insists that the dispute is between the plant's co- investors and co-owners, Porges said. Several months ago, Croatia presented its views on an inter-state agreement, based on the original documents from 1970, 1974 and 1980. These documents represent a solid basis for further negotiations, which have been considerably derogated by the Slovene regulation, which puts the HEP into an unfavourable position, Porges said. "We expect our legal experts to carefully analyse the current situation and give their verdict, after which we will make a formal statement," Porges said. The Slovene Economy Ministry has proposed in a letter to the Croatian Economy Ministry that a meeting be held as early as this week, so that unclear points regarding the regulation be clarified. The first official meeting of the Croatian and Slovene state delegations, which are working on the inter-state agreement on the Krsko plant, should be held in mid September. (hina) rml 082258 MET sep 98