PULA: OMBUDSMAN KLARIC SATISFIED WITH SOCIAL PICTURE OF ISTRIA

PULA, Dec 12 (Hina) - Croatia's ombudsman Ante Klaric, who is visiting Istria County as part of the programme "Activities of the Institution of Ombudsman", is satisfied with the general picture and social situation in Istria and believes that the local administration is mostly coping quite well with the problems put before it. #L# Klaric on Friday held a meeting with Istria County prefect Ivan Jakovcic, at which they stated that citizens still did not differentiate between the jurisdictions of local and state authorities. Klaric believes that it is very important to expand the authority of local self-government bodies and provide them with more funds. Prefect Jakovcic said that unemployment, addictions and unsatisfactory social and health care, as well as the devastation of space, were the main problems local and regional self-government bodies in Istria were dealing with today. He added that the county government was making great efforts to create conditions so it could fulfil the promise of halving the number of unemployed persons in Istria by the end of its term in 2005. (hina) rml sb