DC CHIEF ON CHANCES FOR COALITION WITH HSLS, ECONOMIC ZONE

ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - Democratic Centre (DC) president Mate Granic on Friday confirmed that agreement had not been reached with the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) on forming a coalition for the coming parliamentary elections. #L# "I am confident that together we could be at least the third strongest political force in the ballot, and the DC leadership enjoys strong grassroots support for such cooperation," Granic told a news conference, adding that pre-election or post-election coalitions were still possible. This former Croatian foreign minister said his country had the right to proclaim an economic zone in the Adriatic, in compliance with the international Convention on the Law of the Sea. However, he criticised the incumbent government for opening this issue just before parliamentary elections. He recalled that three years ago the issue of proclaiming an exclusive economic zone in the Adriatic had been initiated in the Croatian parliament. Granic described Slovene reactions to a statement from the current Foreign Minister Tonino Picula, who said that an initialled border agreement was legally invalid, as hysterical. Granic asserted that Slovenia had no access to the open sea under the international Convention on the Law of the Sea. Present at the news conference of the DC leader in Zagreb was a deputy of the Conservative Party in the British parliament, Michael Trend, who spoke about cooperation with parties with a similar political orientation. (hina) ms