Prime Minister Borut Pahor announced on that Slovenia and Croatia have found a solution to the last major hurdle along Zagreb's path to the EU.

According to an agreement reached with Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, the issue of former Ljubljanska Banka (LB)'s debts to Croatian citizens will be resolved as part of succession talks among former Yugoslav republics, led by the Basel, Switzerland -based Bank of International Settlements.

More than 130,000 Croatians are seeking 160m euros in savings they had deposited at the now defunct LB. The National Bank of Croatia has been blocking LB's successor, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, from access to its market until the LB issue is resolved.

Slovenia insists this restricts the free movement of capital, which in turn impedes the conclusion of the respective chapter in Croatia's EU accession talks.