Banks: ‘Croatia and Slovenia close to bank dispute solution’

The foreign ministers of both countries decided at a meeting in Brussels to accelerate negotiations on settling differences arising from the bankruptcy of Slovenia’s Ljubljanska Banka, which was prompted by the implosion of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. More than 130,000 Croats had accounts with the bank when it ceased trading.

The affair, which has poisoned relations between the two countries, is the reason for Slovenia’s refusal to begin ratification of the treaty for Croatia’s accession to the EU, which is slated for July 1 of this year. If Ljubljana does not ratify the treaty by April 1, Croatia’s accession may be postponed.