COUNTY PREFECT ON RELATIONS BETWEEN ITALIAN UNION, TRIESTE UNIVERSITY

PULA, Jan 17 (Hina) - Istria County Prefect Ivan Jakovcic on Friday called on the Foreign Ministry to review, in cooperation with the Italian Foreign Ministry, the role of Trieste's People's University, via which the Italian government is making payments for the activities of the Italian Union in Istria. He announced the possibility of the county suggesting a new form of cooperation between the two countries in this field. #L# Jakovcic also called on the leadership of the Trieste university to urgently unblock money orders and so enable the functioning of the Italian Union and the Italian communities in Croatia and Slovenia. "We do not accept blackmail. Istria does not need any money to which political blackmail is attached," Jakovcic told reporters in Pula speaking about relations between the Italian Union and the Trieste university. "The county may suggest a new form of inter-state cooperation and the establishment of a joint institution which will fully protect our regional interests as well. We have the moral right to do this, since Istria is the only bilingual county in Croatia," he said. (hina) lml sb