Regarding the letter that will form the basis of any possible lawsuit against Croatia in the case of the border arbitration, Cerar said that the letter contained elements for a lawsuit, should there be a need for one. But he wants to check the contents of the letter in the parliament, at the committee for external politics, for he seeks political unity.
Croatian savers: There is no legal basis for payments
Cerar also responded to the issue of payments based on lawsuits by Croatian savers. In one case, money was seized from NLB, while in another the bank paid itself. Cerar expects more lawsuits, some 'worth millions'.
“It was stated in 2015 that there was no legal basis for the bank to pay anything which Croatians had invented. The Croatian side is violating the international agreement we made and this is why Croatian courts should not judge these matters. They reach judgements which are invalid according to our law. We have stated very clearly that any payments based on these judgements have no legal basis. This is why we expect NLB to do everything to protect its property. If necessary, the bank obviously needs to take legal steps, lawsuits. At the same time, the government is intensely thinking about how it might help in this process,” stressed the Prime Minister.
The rule of law and respect for international relations
He says that Slovenia is on the right side here. “Slovenia is striving for the rule of law, both in the border arbitration and in the NLB case. If we do not respect the rule of law, everyone will start working on their own and there will be no common rights. And this is a bad signal for the Western Balkan region, where we want to open the doors to the EU to new states. But at the same time, Croatia is demonstrating an example of how it is possible to mock international law. This is why I am taking such a firm stand – we need to persist on the implementation of the border arbitration decision. Also in the case of NLB, we will not agree to Croatia, which is violating international agreements, profiting from this in any way,” said the Prime Minister.
