HDZ AND ITALIAN MINORITY REPRESENTATIVE SIGN AGREEMENT

ZAGREB, Dec 17 (Hina) - The leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and prime minister-designate, Ivo Sanader, and Italian national minority representative Furio Radin signed an agreement in Zagreb on Wednesday evening under which Radin would support the future HDZ-led government, while the HDZ in turn would implement the 1996 agreement between Croatia and Italy that regulates the rights of the Italian minority in Croatia. #L# The agreement provides for the full implementation of the constitutional law on the rights of ethnic communities or minorities, HDZ presidency member Vladimir Seks said. It includes all the commitments arising from the agreement that was signed and ratified by Croatia and Italy, he added. No agreement was reached on Radin's demand for double voting rights for national minorities, so that the HDZ is under no obligation to build it into the law. Seks said that no deadlines were set for the implementation of the agreement, but that its provisions would be implemented throughout the term of the future government. Radin said that the agreement had been approved by the Italian Union and that it was very good for the Italian community in Croatia. "It shows the new sensibility of the HDZ towards the problems of national minorities, and the efforts by the Italian minority to exercise all or most of its hitherto neglected rights over the next four years," Radin said. He said that the Italian community expected the existing discrimination against Italians living in bilingual municipalities to be eliminated, and financial support for Italian-language schools. Radin said that both signatories agreed that protection of antifascist values was in their interest. (hina) vm sb