FINDING COMMON PATHS
President of the Republic of Slovenia, Milan Kucan speaking about relations with Croatia on national television

Ljubljana, 17 March 1997


You are tied to your neighbour for better or worse. If things are going badly for your neighbour, then they will also be worse for you. And if things are good for you, they will be better for your neighbour. The collapse or flourishing of your neighbour will also be reflected in your own position. Slovenia has undoubtedly achieved a great deal more than Croatia in fulfilling its ambitions, and in its incorporation into Euro-Atlantic structures. And this may be ascribed in part to purely objective causes, to the war in Croatia proper and to their involvement in the Bosnian conflict. Slovenia is in a position to do a great deal for its southern neighbour, and this will also serve our own interests. Through good relations with Slovenia, Croatia may count on Slovene support and a good word from us. I do not wish to dwell on history. Our relations used to be good. Why they are no longer as good as they were is another question. All the talk about the war in Slovenia being just a game of toy soldiers, about Slovenia having territorial ambitions and so forth, all this certainly does not contribute to a good atmosphere, nor to a readiness to resolve our problems. And the situation with these problems is pretty much the same as I said before about relations with the Church. There are some problems, which individually are not difficult to resolve, but they become an issue if they are not resolved. Now I think that we might begin to resolve these problems. Some very important agreements are now ready for signing as well as for parliamentary procedure and ratification.