ZAGREB, Jan 20(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Tuesday that Croatia wanted a stable Bosnia-Herzegovina and that it was interested in the administrative reorganisation of Mostar based on the consensus of all the ethnic
communities in the southern city.
ZAGREB, Jan 20(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Tuesday that
Croatia wanted a stable Bosnia-Herzegovina and that it was interested
in the administrative reorganisation of Mostar based on the consensus
of all the ethnic communities in the southern city.#L#
"We are following with great satisfaction the progress in the
implementation of all the agreements that are important for the future
of the three peoples and all citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina," Sanader
told reporters in Zagreb after receiving the international community's
High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown.
He said that Zagreb supported "European prospects not only for
Croatia, but also for all the countries in this part of Europe,
including, of course, Bosnia-Herzegovina".
"Croatia wants Bosnia-Herzegovina to be a stable country," the prime
minister said.
As for the administrative reorganisation of Mostar, Sanader said that
Croatia was interested in a solution based on "the consensus of Croats
and other peoples and citizens of Mostar".
The commission for the reorganisation of Mostar, headed by Norbert
Winterstein, has drafted a permanent statute for the city which will
most probably be imposed before the end of this month by Ashdown using
his powers as the high representative of the international community.
The draft statute is a compromise solution and is opposed by all six
political parties represented in the City Council.
The Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BH) is of the
view that Mostar should be organised as a single municipality and a
single electoral unit, while the proposed statute provides for the
existence of six electoral units. The Muslim-led Democratic Action
Party (SDA) is opposed to the annulment of the city's six
municipalities established by the Dayton peace agreement.
Ashdown said at the press conference he had come to Zagreb to express
his "admiration for early steps the Croatian government has taken on a
number of key and very difficult issues".
He said that the relationship between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina
was defined by two factors, the Dayton agreement and their joint
objective to join the European Union.
"Those two factors govern this relationship, and I am very grateful
indeed to the prime minister and his government for the extremely
constructive attitude they have taken in helping us in
Bosnia-Herzegovina to move towards a stable European state. That is
our joint aim and it's in the interests of the Balkans as a whole,"
the High Representative said.
Ashdown added that he was confident that the constructive relationship
between the two countries would continue into the future to the
benefit of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and the entire region.
(Hina) vm