Slovenia, Croatia argue over EU

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, March 13 (UPI) -- Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel says Slovenia won't hinder Croatia's entry to the European Union over a bank dispute.

Speaking on national television, Rupel said Slovenia has never said it would stand in the way condition of Croatia's bid to the EU because of Ljubljanska Bank's issue of repayment of funds to Croatians, Belgrade B92 radio reported Monday.

The comments appear to contradict a Foreign Ministry statement from last week that said, "Slovenia will condition the solution of the said (bank savings) problem legally and politically in negotiations on Croatia's access to the EU."

Slovenia and Croatia have been involved in the bank repayment dispute since the disintegration of the six-republic Yugoslavia federation in 1991-95 ethnic wars.

Slovenia media speculated Rupel had changed the stated stand after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Austria, last week when the ministers formally agreed the future of the Balkan countries is with the EU.

Slovenia was the first of the former Yugoslav republics to join the EU in 2004, and Croatia is on a path to join the EU in the next two to four years.