WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Hina) - The new Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)-led government should be given a chance, and its most important test will be its commitment to reforms, cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal and the return
of Serb refugees, participants in a discussion in Washington said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Hina) - The new Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)-led
government should be given a chance, and its most important test will
be its commitment to reforms, cooperation with the Hague war crimes
tribunal and the return of Serb refugees, participants in a discussion
in Washington said on Thursday.#L#
The Croatian Section of Radio Voice of America organised a discussion
on the results of recent parliamentary elections in Croatia and
expectations from the HDZ which returned to power after four years.
The discussion involved mainly American experts and former
politicians.
Robert Hand, an adviser at the American Helsinki Commission for Human
Rights within the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), said that the risk of Croatia sliding back into excessive
nationalism and limited freedoms after the return of the HDZ to power
was slight.
Hand said that Sanader should be encouraged and given a chance.
Hand went on to say that the removal of obstacles to the return of
Serb refugees and cooperation with the Hague tribunal would be two
crucial tests for the HDZ government, and that the new government
would have to extradite fugitive general Ante Gotovina and honour any
new indictments.
Hand warned "some people in Zagreb" that it was wrong to think that
the opposition of the United States to the International Criminal
Court (ICC) meant less support by the US for the Hague tribunal. At
least some Congressmen and some others in the US administration have
different views of the ICC and the Hague tribunal, and may consider
the former to be problematic while at the same time supporting the
latter, he said.
Hand said that the US Congress had welcomed democratic changes in
Croatia in 2000 and supported good bilateral relations that had
developed since. He added that Croatia's desire to join the European
Union and the left-wing orientation of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) and some of its partners resulted in Croatia's foreign policy
gravitating more towards the EU, while at the same time its
Transatlantic relations became tense.
Hand said that HDZ leader Ivo Sanader was probably closer to members
of the Congress ideologically than the outgoing SDP government had
been, and that the signing of an agreement on non-extradition of
Americans to the ICC would certainly be welcomed by Congress.
Participants in the gathering warned that the new Croatian government
should have a balanced approach towards the US and the EU, and try to
avoid joining sides in their dispute over Iraq and the ICC.
Croatia's ambassador to Washington, Ivan Grdesic, said that the new
government must have both pro-American and pro-European attitudes.
"We want to be a member of the EU, but we also want to be a member of
NATO and we should not antagonise either party," he said.
Participants expressed a view that relations between the government
and President Stjepan Mesic would be crucial.
Although there are limits to his powers, Mesic is a symbol that can
set a course, and he has used his office to encourage mainstream
politics and reconciliation with neighbours, Hand said.
(Hina) vm sb