HDZ MARKS 14TH FOUNDING ANNIVERSARY IN RIJEKA

RIJEKA, Feb 21 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) vice president and Minister of the Sea, Tourism, Transport and Development Bozidar Kalmeta said in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka on Saturday all projects in the area financed from the government budget would be implemented.#L# Speaking at a meeting marking the 14th anniversary of the establishment of the HDZ branch in Rijeka and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Kalmeta said Rijeka would not be marginalised as it was Croatia's most important economic hub alongside Zagreb. He added that reconstruction in Croatia would be completed within a year. Speaking of the draft budget for this year, Kalmeta said the former government last year spent a 6.5 billion kuna (EUR844 million) loan that had to be serviced this year. He concluded that the situation in state finance was not appropriate for a country wishing to join the European Union. HDZ presidency member and Parliament Vice President Darko Milinovic spoke about his appointment as chairman of the Rijeka Clinic Hospital administrative council. He said "there are no dark days ahead" for the health system and that he had not come to seek revenge or to replace incumbent Rijeka Clinic Hospital director Herman Haller. Commenting on media criticism of his behaviour in Gospic in 2000, when he tied himself in chains with other residents of this central Croatian city in protest against the arrest of a group of locals on war crimes charges, Milinovic said he would do it again. He explained that as an intellectual he had wanted to join the residents of Gospic in protesting against how the arrests had been carried out, which he said had psychologically affected the children present. Milinovic stressed that the 16 suspects had been acquitted. He also slammed the burning of Serb houses, saying it "undermines our reputation in Europe" and that as Christians "we should be forgiving". (Hina) ha sb