Slovenian PM to decide on foreign minister's resignation by Tuesday (updated)
02/07/2016 14:21
(Adds quote, details, background)
By Marja Novak
LJUBLJANA, July 2 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Prime Minister Miro
Cerar said on Saturday he would decide by Tuesday on whether to
accept the resignation of Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec.
Erjavec offered to resign on Thursday over a scandal
involving a leaked tape that led to a breakdown in the country's
international border arbitration with neighbouring Croatia.
ID:nL8N19N2W2
Cerar told reporters he was surprised by the offer of
resignation, which came at an "inappropriate time" and said
"there are no clear reasons to dismiss the minister".
Erjavec was not personally involved in the scandal but as
foreign minister at the time of the scandal he felt he should
offer to resign.
He tendered his resignation a few hours after the Permanent
Court of Arbitration in the Hague decided on Thursday to
continue with its work on reaching a decision on the border line
between Slovenia and Croatia.
Twenty five years after the break-up of federal Yugoslavia,
Slovenia and Croatia still disagree over their land and sea
border.
Croatia withdrew from the arbitration last year after a leak
of a tape showed that a Slovenian judge on the arbitration panel
had exchanged confidential information with an official at
Slovenia's foreign ministry.
Analysts expect that Cerar will reject the resignation offer
from Erjavec, who is also the head of the minor coalition party
Desus.
Cerar also urged the management of the company that runs
Slovenia's only port, state-owned Luka Koper LKPG.LJ , to
ensure that the port starts operating again after employees have
halted operations since Friday, demanding the resignation of
Infrastructure Minister Peter Gaspersic.
They claim Gaspersic poses an obstacle to the port's
development by not supporting an expansion of the railway line
from the port. Their protests led to the resignation on Friday
of Marko Jazbec, head of Slovenian Sovereign Holding which has
overall supervision of state firms.
"I will not accept that workers run state companies or the
state itself," Cerar said. The protests at the port, which
forced Slovenian Railways to halt cargo traffic across the
country, was causing losses to domestic and foreign firms, he
said.
(Reporting By Marja Novak; Editing by Susan Fenton)
((Marja.Novak@thomsonreuters.com; +386-1-5058805; Reuters
Messaging: marja.novak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SLOVENIA MINISTER/