(Hina) - Foreign Minister Miro Kovač said on Thursday that the first lawsuit against Croatia for the conversion of Swiss franc loans had been filed and that Croatia would try and find a solution with banks which would least impact the state budget and protect those loan holders.
"We already held a meeting on this topic with the prime minister. The State Prosecutor's Office (DORH), the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry are involved in the consultations and we will leave it to DORH to hold talks on this topic at the court where the lawsuit was filed," Kovač said, recalling that claims might be about HRK 8 billion.
He said the government was interested in protecting the citizens who took Swiss franc loans and "wants to clearly say" that last year's conversion was "populist and insufficiently thought out, and now we have the first lawsuits and we will have to work hard to alleviate the damage to the... state budget. But the interests of Croatian citizens come first."
Jutarnji List daily said today the first suit was filed by Italy's UniCredit, which owns Zagrebačka Banka, one of eight in Croatia which offered loans denominated in Swiss francs.