During his New Year reception for Croatian journalists on Wednesday, Mesic was asked to comment on the protest rally which a group of about 150 members of associations of Italian WWII refugees, who left the then Yugoslavia, staged in front of the European Parliament's building in Strasbourg asking for the restitution of their property which they left in Slovenia and Croatia when they departed to Italy in the wake of the WWII.
Our debt towards Italy amounts to 34 million dollars and we would like to pay that as soon as Italy gives us the account for this purpose, Mesic was quoted by Croatian Radio and Television as saying.
He reiterated that Croatian citizens, who suffered during the WWII, received no compensation, and that Croatian authorities could also raise similar questions.
"For the sake of the truth, we must say that our citizens, whose houses were burnt, and who were in the Italian-run camps without any trial, received no damages. So, if somebody should raise this issue (of compensation), it should be Croatia because of its citizens," Mesic said.
Protesters, who carried many banners, claimed that in the wake of WWII, genocide was committed against Italians in the said area and that local Italians in the then Yugoslavia were discriminated against.
The STA agency quoted Massimiliano Lacotte, the leader of the protesters, as saying that they were asking for justice for those Italian refugees and international arbitration to settle the problem.
Protestors also insist on the annulment of the Rome and Osimo accords which the then Yugoslav federation and Italy signed regulating the compensation for Italians who left Slovenia and Croatia, which were constituent parts of Yugoslavia, after WWII.
The agreements stipulate compensation to be paid to Italians who opted for the departure from Yugoslavia and moved in Italy.
Yugoslavia failed to pay all the damages as the Yugoslav federation broke down in the early 1990s. Being successors to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Slovenia and Croatia took over the obligation to pay the rest of damages.
Slovenia regards the matter settled as it had for ten years paid funds on a fiduciary account of the Dresdner Bank in Luxembourg for this purpose, but Italy has not yet taken over the funds.
Croatia's position is that the two agreements should be honoured, and it admits that Zagreb should pay 35 million dollars to Italy. Croatia's Foreign Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has recently said that her country is willing to pay the debt any time and only asks Italy to determine an account for this purpose.
Asked to comment on the esuli's protest, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Wednesday afternoon that Croatia was a legal successor to the SFRY and that Osimo and Rome agreements were beyond any doubt.
Sanader added that he believed that the rally should be looked through the prism of the forthcoming Italian election campaign, and that therefore, it was none of his business.
In Strasbourg, representatives of the protesters were received by Euro-parliamentarian Luca Romagnoli, a member of the Italian right-wing group Fiamma Tricolore.