"If Croatia won't meet its commitments and if it will discriminate against the Serb minority, it won't be able to enter the EU," Vojislav Stanimirovic told a round-table debate on the sustainable return to Croatia, organised by Croatia's Serb Democratic Forum.
The debate heard that the main obstacles to the Serbs' return to Croatia were unsolved tenancy rights for about 30,000 people and ambiguities in connection with a list of war crimes suspects.
Participants in the debate did not assess the return process well. They said that according to official figures, about 130,000 refugees had returned to Croatia but that the actual figure was 70,000.
The chairman of the Serb Democratic Forum's Steering Board, Veljko Dzakula, said about 60 ethnically motivated incidents were recorded in Croatia in 2005 and 10 in the Zadar area this year alone. He called on the Croatian authorities to condemn such incidents in view of averting them in the future and sending a "positive signal to returnees".
Dzakula called on the authorities in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to encourage returns but also help those who decide to stay in those countries with appropriate programmes.
Serbia's Refugees Commissioner Dragisa Dabetic said the return issue would not be settled this year as envisaged, but voiced hope that everything would be done soon in accordance with the 2005 Sarajevo Agreement.
He said there were three solutions to the tenancy rights issue -- providing returnees with housing, returning flats to owners, or paying compensation to those who do not wish to return to Croatia.
Speaking of war crimes suspects' lists, Dabetic said those responsible for war crimes must be held to account but that the list was a bad message to those wishing to return.
Stanimirovic said he would inform Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of the proposals and opinions stated today.