LOCAL AUTHORITIES HAVE KEY ROLE IN EU ENTRY - OSCE

ZAGREB, Feb 20 (Hina) - Local authorities will play a key role in the meeting of political criteria that are necessary for Croatia's EU membership, the head of the OSCE Mission to Croatia, Ambassador Peter Semneby, said on Thursday. #L# The enforcement of the recently adopted constitutional law on national minorities and refugee returns and property restitution are two challenges local authorities encounter in fulfilling the European Union's political conditions, Semneby said at a meeting with local officials in Knin, said the Zagreb office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Following parliament's adoption of said constitutional law, it is now up to local authorities to implement it, said Semneby. He also commented on a proposal to secure accommodation to returnees who owned flats in Croatia before the 1990s war, recently presented by Public Works, Construction and Reconstruction Minister Radimir Cacic. Semneby said a big step forward would be made when all who wished to return to pre-war homes were given access to adequate accommodation, without deadlines. (hina) ha sb