Mesic said the return was vital for Croatia and its interests, stressing that enabling the return of Serb refugees was never a deed of mercy or a gesture of generosity.
"On the contrary - creating conditions for the return of all, therefore of course the return of Serbs, is Croatia's national interest in the true meaning of that word, Mesic told those present.
This is also Croatia's moral obligation because the majority of Serb refugees was not involved in war crimes but were victims of Milosevic's idea of Greater Serbia, Mesic said
"A lot has been done to date and we have reasons to be satisfied," the president said, citing reconstruction of houses which is nearing the end, the issuing of documents that is proceeding smoothly and the issue of security which did represent a serious obstacle to the return process. However, a lot still must be done because the return must have a meaning and it must be sustainable, Mesic said, underlining the worrying fact that less than a half of refugees that are registered as returnees were residing in Croatia.
He reiterated there can be no sustainable return without economic development and pointed to the need of strategic and systematic investing in the return process so as to stimulate production and employment.
After giving a talks, Mesic told reporters that the international community could have done more to help the return of refugees to Croatia, notably in demining and infrastructure projects, adding that the situation in Serbia contributes to the fact that some people were not returning to Croatia.
Mesic told the press that Croatia was reconstructing houses, but that as a country it could not build plants and activate the economy. As a country it can create a framework for investments in these areas.
"Investments, however, will start once these areas are cleared of mines and the international community had to do a lot more in this field, " Mesic said.
He also said that the current state of affairs in Serbia was contributing to the fact that some people who moved to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina during Operations Storm and Flash were not returning to Croatia because they were "exposed to wrong information" about what was really happening in Croatia and what was the best thing for them to do. Mesic said that the strongest party in Serbia today is the Radical Party whose leader is charged with war crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and his deputy still has pretensions towards Croatia's territory.
"All of this probably affects people, not only in Serbia, but in Croatia as well, but we are forced to cooperate," Mesic said.
The Croatian President expressed conviction Serbia would go through a catharsis after all and realise that Milosevic's the aggressive policy of a Greater Serbia was wrong and that it caused harm not only to Croats and Bosniaks, but also to Serbs in Croatia and those in Serbia.
"Serbia cannot take a path to Europe with this retrograde policy," Mesic said.