The Slovenia Times

Unclear BIS Respond to Request for LB Mediation?

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Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić told Croatian broadcaster HTV that the BIS had turned down the request for mediation, a statement that Slovenia's Karl Erjavec later described as Pusić's "interpretation".

"We understand the letter differently, we understand it as [the BIS] not declaring it is not competent for the issue," Erjavec told reporters after meeting with Pusić on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum on Tuesday.

"It is important that this matter is not resolved in front of Croatian courts but under the auspices of succession talks," Erjavec said.

"We've been saying all along that we have to find a third party that will find a solution to this open issue...It is important that we have a meeting, that we examine this letter and we agree on subsequent steps," he said.

Erjavec would not delve into what exactly the letter from BIS says, but, quizzed by reporters, he acknowledged that the formulation was "in the same spirit" as a letter from 2010 that said the BIS was willing to take part in the event that the five successors to the former Yugoslavia reach an agreement.

"We should not forget that Croatia made the commitment to honour the memorandum, which means that this issue is being resolved as part of succession talks," he said, noting that a meeting was therefore required to agree on further steps.

Erjavec said he and Pusić would meet with the financial experts from both countries after the Croatia Summit, which takes place in late September, to discuss the issue.

Pusić later reiterated her position in a statement for reporters, saying that "BIS thinks they cannot contribute to the resolution of this issue and the only thing they can offer is a space for meetings...But we don't need a space, we can meet in Croatia or Slovenia and we agreed to meet."

But unlike Erjavec, Pusić said Croatia did not see the agreement as enabling the mediation of a third party other than BIS. "There is no other option."

Nevertheless, she said the two countries could agree to "some sort of third-party intervention", provided that the two financial experts, Slovenia's France Arhar and Croatia's Zdravko Rogić, agree to that.

The two countries had turned to Basel as part of what was billed as a final resolution of the issue of the debt of the Slovenian LB bank to Croatian account holders - a deal agreed in a memorandum signed by the two countries in March in Mokrice.

The reason the agreement was important is that it removed the final obstacle to Croatia's EU accession by meeting Slovenia's demand that the issue be resolved as part of talks on the succession to the former Yugoslavia, not as a bilateral issue.

The agreement suspended lawsuits that Croatian commercial banks have launched against LB and its successor, NLB, in Croatian courts, on behalf of Croatia.

Asked whether the lawsuits would now continue, Pusić said the memorandum allowed for the option that both countries seek a two-year suspension, during which time "we can find a solution; I'm convinced we can find it."

Pusić also denied the latest development being a setback in the long history of the resolution of the issue. "On the contrary," she said.

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