SDP SAYS GOTOVINA CASE WON'T ALIENATE CROATIA FROM E.U.

ZAGREB, Sept 30 (Hina) - Social Democratic Party (SDP) officials said on Tuesday they did not believe the case of General Ante Gotovina would alienate Croatia from the European Union, although they considered the appearance of the fugitive general before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague a crucial political issue. #L# Speaking at a regular party briefing, the officials said that Croatia had cooperated with the Hague tribunal to the best of its ability, and that the government could do nothing about Gotovina because he was not in the country. The SDP said the key point of disagreement was the claim by the tribunal that Gotovina was hiding in Croatia, although the party said all the information Croatia had received in connection with Gotovina's whereabouts had proved untrue. Most of the information has been proved false by the police, the briefing heard. They said that at the same time some European police services did not check the information provided by Croatia that Gotovina was hiding in the European Union. Speaking of preparations for forthcoming parliamentary elections, the SDP officials said the party would spend about five million kuna, or approximately 666,000 euros, on the election campaign, which they expected would not last long, but would be intense. They said that lists of candidates would be kept secret until their official presentation. Commenting on a statement by President of the Republic Stjepan Mesic that he might postpone the date of elections, the SDP officials recalled that under the constitution elections should be held no later than 60 days after the dissolution of the parliament, but said they believed the president would accept the proposal by the coalition government that elections be held on November 23. They recalled that no proposal had been made to form an election coalition at national level, and that the party leadership would discuss possibilities of cooperation in individual constituencies with local SDP leaderships. It was announced that this week the SDP leadership would discuss the possibility of declaring an economic zone in the Adriatic, and that the party would present its position on the matter together with its coalition partners. Speaking of the economic zone, the SDP officials said it was most important to determine the best solution for Croatia at the moment. (hina) vm