VIROVITICA, Feb 1(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Sunday he was pleased with what the chief prosecutor with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, said in an interview with Croatian Television which aired
yesterday.
VIROVITICA, Feb 1(Hina) - Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Sunday he
was pleased with what the chief prosecutor with the war crimes
tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, said in an interview with
Croatian Television which aired yesterday.#L#
"The government's position is that Croatia wants to cooperate with the
international criminal tribunal in The Hague, and I appreciate Mrs Del
Ponte' positive opinion of the cooperation to date. I wish to make it
possible for Croatia to continue with such cooperation in the future
and that we be enabled to proceed towards our goals and ambitions in
the way that the great majority of Croatians expect," Sanader said.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting at which his Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ) party marked the 14th anniversaty of its Virovitica
branch, Sanader declined to comment on Del Ponte's claim that Ante
Gotovina, the retired general wanted by the Hague tribunal, is the
biggest hurdle to Croatia's admission to the European Union. He only
reiterated that he was "pleased with her statement".
At the meeting which pooled more than 1,000 HDZ members and
sympathisers, Sanader announced the reinstatement of the financial
police, which he said would keep an eye on those who have to but do
not pay taxes and would step up control over the work of public
companies and the collection of concessions for the use of natural
resources.
Sanader also announced amendments to the Law on Croatian Radio and
Television (HRT). "I want (the HRT) to be independent of political
influence and various lobbies, to be a complete service informing the
Croatian public in an objective and fair fashion."
Sanader called on Darko Bestek, a war veteran with 100 percent
disability, to come to the war veterans affairs' ministry to be
returned the artificial limb he gave former minister Ivica Pancic
three years ago protesting against the reduction of war veterans'
rights. "By doing so, I symbolically wish to kickstart work on the new
law on war veterans' rights," he said, adding that they would not be
given back just their material rights, but primarily the dignity he
said they had been deprived of without justification.
(Hina) ha sb