She told a news conference that such a thesis was completely wrong and incorrect given that Croatia-Austria negotiations on this issue ended on April 4, 2005 after seven years.
She recalled that in 2002 parliament amended the law on compensation for seized property, providing for the possibility of signing bilateral agreements under which physical and legal persons may exercise the right to denationalisation. The Constitutional Court made this possible in April 1999 by rescinding provisions under which foreigners did not have the right to the return of property they had possessed in Croatia.
Speaking of the agreement with Austria, the minister said negotiations began seven years ago. The Croatian government formalised them on 24 April 2003 by adopting a decision on the establishment of a commission which would prepare the signing of the agreement.
Croatia initialled the agreement in mid-October and sent it to Austria, which is expected to initial it soon, after which the agreement is expected to be signed and ratified in parliament.
The minister said the starting point for the agreement was that relations arranged by agreements signed between the former Socialist Yugoslavia and Austria could not be changed, meaning that persons compensated under those agreements could not exercise any right under the latest agreement.
Skare-Ozbolt said about 440 Austrian citizens were expected to seek compensation.
Her assistant and the head of the Croatian delegation in negotiations on the agreement, Boris Koketi, said the exact number would be known after the agreement went into force and a six-month deadline for the submission of requests expired.
Asked by the press if 440 was too low a number given that about 60,000 Germans were expelled from Croatia into Austria after World War Two, Koketi said some of them also had Croatian citizenship and that as such they had already requested compensation.
Asked if the compensation would be only financial or was possible in kind as well, Koketi said compensation in kind was possible only for property which today was owned by Croatia or local self-government units.
Regarding damages, he said they were determined by rule books based on the state's economic possibilities and not on market prices. He dismissed speculation that the damages amounted to one billion euros as utter misinformation given that the figure would be known only after requests were processed.
Requests for signing such agreements have also been submitted by Italy, the United States, Slovenia, and Germany.
Minister Skare-Ozbolt said negotiations were under way only with Italy and would soon begin with the US and Slovenia. She added the prerequisite for negotiations with Slovenia was reciprocal property restitution. The negotiations are being led by the foreign ministry.
Koketi said the problem with Italy was that it declined to give Croatia the number of the account into which Croatia had to pay money as a successor of communist Yugoslavia because Italy was trying to change the agreement under which Croatia must pay the compensation.
Koketi said Croatia would pay the amount of USD35 million as soon as Italy provided the account number.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) maintains the agreement with Austria was the result of pressure and lobbying for Austria's support for the launching of Croatia's EU entry negotiations and will therefore not endorse it, said the chairman of the party's Foreign Policy Council, Zoran Milanovic, whom party president Ivica Racan entrusted with presenting the SDP's position on the deal.
Milanovic said the agreement reflected an irresponsible and conspiratorial policy, an arrangement being agreed behind closed doors of which the Croatian public was not being informed.
He said Croatia was grateful to Austria and Germany for their support and friendship, but underlined that one must distinguish between friendship and national interests.