CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER ADDRESSES PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF COUNCIL OF EUROPE

ZAGREB, April 27 (Hina) - By approaching the European Union and NATO and obtaining the status of candidate country, which it hopes will happen this June, Croatia will not "run away" from the region. On the contrary, it will represent its neighbours in Europe, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Strasbourg on Tuesday.#L# In his address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe at the Assembly's spring session, Sanader said his country had two parallel priorities: membership in the EU and NATO and regional cooperation. After June, we shall have no 'fugitive intentions' from the region, Sanader said. In the EU we shall represent our neighbours as we shall represent the EU in our neighbouring countries, the Croatian PM added. Croatia is making efforts to create "adequate conditions and has undertaken necessary measures - including the allocation of significant financial resources - in respect of the process of the return of refugees and the refugees and the reconstruction of property damaged as a result of war," he said. "My Government wishes to turn a new page - to look towards the future and offer an opportunity to all its citizens for a better life unburdened with national disputes and wrangling with the past long gone," he said. Asked by a member of the Parliamentary Assembly about plans for compensation for houses and flats confiscated during the war and subsequently sold to third parties, Sanader said that he personally gave assurances for property restitution. All property will be given back to rightful owners, and if that is impossible we shall seek alternative solutions. In this context, Sanader called on the governments of Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina to do the same with regard to the property of Croats expelled from the former Yugoslavia and Bosnia. Croatia's cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal "has been positively assessed by the Prosecutor of the Tribunal. Positive evaluation of Croatia's cooperation with the ICTY has been equally confirmed in the European Commission avis of last week," Sanader added. He went on to say that the EC opinion would not have been positive, if Croatia had not met three European political criteria: return of refugees, cooperation with the UN tribunal and reform of the judiciary. Asked by a deputy from Bosnia about the future of the Dayton peace accords that ended war in Bosnia ten years ago, the Croatian official said that "Croatia had no individual approach, and the three constituent peoples (in Bosnia) must decide on the matter in cooperation with the international community". The Dayton accords were signed in 1995 and Croatia was aware then that the deal was not ideal but that it would stop the war, he said. He thanked the European Union and the United States for helping to achieve the peace agreement. Asked by another deputy what kind of help Slovenia, which is already a NATO member and which will join the EU on 1 May, could offer to Croatia on the path towards European integration, Sanader answered that Slovenia, Hungary and Italy could provide great assistance as Croatia's neighbours. We have some outstanding issues with Slovenia which we shall try to solve through bilateral talks. If we fail to find a solution, we shall resort to international arbitration, but our bilateral relations are good, Sanader said adding that Zagreb needed Slovene expert assistance on the path towards the EU and NATO. The Croatian Prime Minister on Tuesday met Parliamentary Assembly President Peter Schieder, Council of Europe Secretary-General, Walter Schwimmer, Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles and the president of the European Court of Human Rights, Luzius Wildhaber. The Croatian delegation also included Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul and Culture Minister Bozo Biskupic. (Hina) ms