Delay of Slovenian NATO Ratification for Croatia

At a Slovenian parliament meeting, they did not accept the final calculations for 2007.

The Slovenian state assembly was scheduled to vote for the ratification of the NATO protocol to allow Croatia into that organization last night, but according to information from the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), there was no vote, writes Jutarnji List.

At the sitting of the Slovenian parliament, they did not accept the final account calculations for 2007, and SDS decided to stop participating in the work of the parliament. They claim this is a precedent in modern Slovenian history, and that they cannot vote on Croatia until the final calculations for 2007 are accepted.

This means that if the meeting does not continue today, the ratification of the Croatian entry into NATO will be in parliament at the end of February.

On Monday, after the foreign politics board of the state assembly voted for the entry of Croatia into NATO with 16 votes for and 3 against, it was almost certain that the assembly would accept that stance today. However, Zmago Jelincic was against that decision, who said on Thursday that it was unacceptable to allow Croatia into NATO, because Zagreb supplied some documents that define Croatia’s borders with Slovenia.

Jelincic accused the Slovenian Cabinet of hiding some documents which show that Croatia was defining its borders, and said that the Cabinet is under pressure, because if they do not vote for the Croatian protocol, they will not be able to sell their bonds on the international market, which would cause additional financial problems in the country.