What To Expect Of A Meeting On Carnival Day?

After the meeting on Carnival day, we can expect the next meeting will be scheduled for April Fools` day, reporter Jalsovec believes.

A cold meeting of Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and his Slovenian counterpart Borut Pahor in Slovenia`s Mokrice did not bring anything new, as it was expected. After several months of affrayment through the media, the two PMs finally agreed to meet for the first time, however, none of them backed down from their position. Pahor will not forsake the solution of the border issue according to Olli Rehn`s formula, while Sanader will not forsake the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Slovenia plays with fire

- It was expected – all Slovene reporters we talked to agreed.

They welcome the meeting which should have been held as soon as “the fire started”, and they believe the fire will not be easily extinguished now. Or as ORF reporter Christian Wehrschultz pt it, Pahor will have a hard time putting the genie back in the bottle. Even though the greatest mistake lies in two facts, according to him:

- If the relatively simple problem is not solved, it becomes a huge problem after several years and it is difficult to solve. Furthermore, NATO and the European Union had oversights, which underestimated this problem, because if Slovenia could have accessed NATO and the EU five years ago, and the problem was not solved at the time, then the solution was supposed to have been requested then, when Slovenia was being accepted as a member – Wehrschultz believes.

Also, as he added, Slovenia now wants to pressure Croatia and is using its current position.

- And this is not right, It is my impression that Slovenia has been playing with fire for a long time  - he said.

His colleague Tina Cucek of POP TV agreed with him, at least when it comes to metaphors. However, she believes both sides are equally at fault.

- High politicians on both sides are at fault, there were too many statements which politicians in such situations should not allow themselves, to have a public debut, they have some sort of responsibility after all. Once such statements start coming, they one lights a fire, and when the fire starts burning, then it is hard to be extinguished – Cucek believes.

Meeting as a positive signal

When asked if the meeting between Pahor and Sanader was affected by the EU or America. i.e. if the first meeting took place because of other countries applied pressure, the POP TV reporter pointed out she hopes this was not the case.

- This is a positive message, a positive signal and I hope that both of them are responsible enough politicians, that they sat down on their own, not pressured by anyone else – she concluded.

The Veceri reporter Boris Jalsovec was ironic when it comes to Croatian-Slovene relations, as well as about the way problems are solved. He believes that nothing could have been expected of the premiers` meeting on the day of the Carnival.

- What can be expected of two prime ministers who met on Carnival day after two months? Masks will not be removed, perhaps the only thing to expect is that the next meeting would be scheduled for April Fools` day – Jalsovec pointed out.

According to him, the thing got out of hand with both prime ministers, which is evident from the statements they claimed over the past months. As he pointed out, Americans are going mad, the European Union is going mad and now, there is no miracle solution, and the politicians are still making jokes.

Pahor and criminals in governmental cars

- There, our premier [Borut Pahor] still drives criminals [the Slovene People`s Party which is raising signatures for a referendum on Croatia`s NATO accession] to meetings on referendums in governmental cars, instead of in police vans. We have seen this already in the Balkans, but it seems that Slovenia was late to join in – Jalsovec concluded.

On the other hand, Delo reporter Rok Kajzer believes that the statements which officials said in the media were symptomatic for the poor state of Croatian and Slovenian relations, while these statements were inappropriate, to say the least.

- The crisis was at its pinnacle and the prime ministers did nothing, one in Zagreb, the other in Ljubljana, and communication which should have been present in a time of crisis was absent – Kajzer emphasised.

When it comes to the behaviour of citizens in both countries, the Delo reporter believes that the citizens are not informed enough, blaming it on the media.

- The media take the politicians` statements for granted, both Croatian and Slovene, without analysing them – he added.

Read more about the meeting: PHOTO: No Agreement On Border Dispute As PMs Meet.