VIENNA, Nov 27 (Hina) - European Union representatives congratulated Croatia on the way the Nov. 23 parliamentary election was held at the start of an OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on Thursday.
VIENNA, Nov 27 (Hina) - European Union representatives
congratulated Croatia on the way the Nov. 23 parliamentary election
was held at the start of an OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna
on Thursday. #L#
All international observers joined in the assessment, notably the
observer group from the Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights (ODIHR).
Also cited was the statement by EU High Representative for the
Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana that the way the
ballot was held confirmed the headway Croatia had made in achieving
European standards in recent years.
Participants in the meeting said they expected the parties
negotiating the formation of the new government to keep those
standards in mind, and Croatian authorities to take into
consideration some recommendations made by the ODIHR observers
after the polls.
The participants also stressed the importance of full cooperation
with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and wished that in
cooperating with the international community, notably the OSCE and
its mission in Zagreb, Croatia would continue along the path of
reforms, regional cooperation and reconciliation.
Representatives of the EU, the United States, the Russian
Federation, and Serbia-Montenegro congratulated Croatia on how it
conducted the election, stressing that it confirmed the maturity of
Croatia's political scene and democracy.
Croatia's Vienna-based permanent representative to the OSCE, the
U.N. and international organisations, Ambassador Vladimir Matek,
said he was grateful for the congratulations and commendations, and
thanked the ODIHR observers on what he said had been very objective
reporting.
(hina) ha sb