Presidents Drnovšek and Mesić Call on their Governments to Begin Talks

Velike Lašče, 29 June

Following an informal working meeting, the Slovenian and Croatian Presidents, Janez Drnovšek and Stipe Mesić, have called on the governments of both countries to begin talks and start resolving issues pertaining to the border, and the debts of the former Ljubljanska banka owed to its Croatian depositors.

President Drnovšek stressed that it was high time the countries resolved the issues themselves, which was within their power, and found a satisfactory solution for both sides.
After Slovenia's publication of a White Paper on border issues, the Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader derided it as grandstanding, and announced a Croatian Blue Paper in response. President Mesić said that confronting papers belonged to literature, while politics was about arguments. Mr Drnovšek assessed that the Croatian Prime Minister had not formulated his response in the best way and that such papers would not solve the problems.
The Slovenian President also explained that he and his Croatian counterpart had decided to appeal publicly to both governments, as there had been no progress on these last two outstanding issues in the fifteen years since independence. President Mesić said the governments should address one issue at a time, as dealing with them together had proved unsuccessful.

Presidents Drnovšek and Mesić Call on their Governments to Begin Talks

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