MESIC EXPECTS FRANCE'S HELP TO CROATIA IN ITS E.U. MEMBERSHIP BID - LE MONDE

ZAGREB/PARIS, April 13 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic firmly hopes that the European Commission will soon issue a positive opinion on his country's application for membership in the European Union and that talks will start before the end of this year, the French daily Le Monde has said.#L# Following talks with French President Jacques Chirac on April 6, the Elysee Palace issued a statement saying that Chirac appreciated "Croatia's efforts to meet the requests by the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague," Le Monde wrote in its Sunday issue. "All persons who have been summoned by the Hague tribunal either as witnesses, suspects or indictees have turned themselves in; all but one. Croatia should not be punished for that single case," the daily quoted Mesic as saying, adding that he referred to former Croatian army commander Ante Gotovina. Responding to the comment that the Croatian authorities were not very keen in their search for General Gotovina, Mesic said: "France could be blamed for the same thing, because Gotovina also has a French passport. I am not saying that he is in France, but he can travel round the world on his French passport," the Croatian president said. Mesic underlined that 90 per cent of the Serb refugees who wished to return had returned to Croatia, and that the government had pledged to give back 4,000 apartments, now mainly unlawfully occupied by Bosnian Croats, to their rightful owners before the end of this year. Mesic said he was happy that the change of government in Croatia in January did not bring into question the process of the country's adjustment to European standards and the rule of law. Mesic also said that Croatia wanted to continue working on the restoration of relations with neighbouring countries, and added that despite adverse developments, for example in Serbia, "we will not give up efforts to promote cooperation". (Hina) vm