PREMIER RACAN ON CROATIA'S DETERMINATION TO ENTER EU

LONDON, Sept 29 (Hina) - Croatia is resolved to join the European Union, and its achievements in the fields of home and foreign affairs prove this determination, Croatian Premier Ivica Racan said in London on Monday evening. #L# Racan, who was on a working visit to Great Britain, held a speech on the topic 'Croatia on the Threshold to EU Membership', in Shatham House, a leading British foreign affairs forum. The Croatian premier emphasised his country's determination to join the EU, adding that Zagreb proved this by implementing reforms, fulfilling the given political criteria, strengthening regional cooperation and enabling refugees to return. According to Racan, Zagreb's objective is to meet the remaining conditions for the admission into the Union by 2007. Speaking about Croatia's cooperation with the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal, he said the Croatian judiciary was processing war crimes, and described this cooperation as an important factor for the normalisation of relations in the region and the establishment of just and lasting peace. In this context, Racan said the efforts were being invested in order to solve the remaining unsettled issues. Asked by a BBC reporter how he would convince British Premier Tony Blair in that cooperation in light of the unsolved issue of fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina, Racan said Croatia could not arrest somebody who was not in Croatia. "Our authorities will perhaps be criticised or punished, and then we shall encounter authorities that will have no democratic position that an act of justice should be performed," Racan said. Croatian Premier, who last week announced parliamentary elections for late November, said the change of those in power might halt democratic processes in the region. Racan will meet his host, British Premier Blair, on the margins of a convention of the Labour Party in Bournemouth, set for Tuesday. (hina) ms