"The Croatian Foreign Affairs and European Integration Ministry is familiar with the fact that the presentation of credentials by Ambassador Tomislav Vidosevic to Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi has been rescheduled," the spokeswoman for the Ministry, Ivana Crnic, said.
"We do not want to comment on this move on Italy's part because we believe that the good relations between the two countries will continue to develop in the same direction," Crnic said in a comment on reports in Thursday's issues of some dailies.
According to the press, Ambassador Vidosevic arrived in Rome in late October and has been waiting since then to present his credentials to the Italian president. The press speculates that the stalling of the procedure could be interpreted as Rome's message to Croatia to meet its demands regarding the sale of real estate to Italian nationals and conclude with Italy an agreement on property restitution similar to one concluded recently with Austria.