ZAGREB, Dec 22 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stjepan Mesic has said the most important tasks of the Ivo Sanader government are the reform in the state administration and the military, the completion of the ongoing reform of the
judiciary, and the creation of new jobs.
ZAGREB, Dec 22 (Hina) - Croatia's President Stjepan Mesic has said the
most important tasks of the Ivo Sanader government are the reform in
the state administration and the military, the completion of the
ongoing reform of the judiciary, and the creation of new jobs.#L#
Commenting on the cut in the number of ministries from 19 to 14,
Mesic, who spoke in a Croatian Radio talk show on Monday afternoon,
said it was not sufficient to annul a ministry for reasons of
cost-saving, as the transfer of jobs and staff from one ministry to
another would not save money. It is necessary to cut government
spending, such as funds for the financial rehabilitation of companies
and banks, as such issues should be settled by strategic partners
rather than by the government, Mesic added.
He expects that the first challenges which the new government will
face will be the hand-over of more indictees, wanted by the UN war
crimes tribunal in The Hague, applications for the re-introduction of
tenancy rights for six to seven thousand ethnic Serbs, as well as the
reconstruction of houses regardless of the nationality of their
owners.
As regards the foreign policy, the challenges will be the
participation of Croatian soldiers in the mission in Iraq and the
issue of extradition of U.S. nationals to the International Criminal
Court, Mesic said.
Commenting on the case of Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic, Mesic
said the new pieces of evidence "showing that others are responsible
for what Blaskic has been tried", could be strong enough to persuade
the appeals chamber to reduce the first sentence or acquit him.
Commenting on the composition of the Sanader cabinet, Mesic said that
although it was a minority government, it could address the tasks, but
it would have to ask the opposition for its opinion before discussing
some issues in the parliament.
Asked whether he believed that Sanader had succeeded in reforming the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Mesic answered that "he has done so
for the most part, but there are still some cases of inflammatory
speech and some people in the party who think that the HDZ is a
movement fighting against imaginary communism".
The head of state voiced hope that there would be no large-scale
replacements in ambassadorial posts, and added that there would be no
need to replace somebody who filled a post according to rules.
In the foreign policy it is important to open towards the neighbours,
accept European standards and enter the European Union, Mesic said.
Mesic is optimistic about 2004 and believes that the current situation
is more favourable than the situation in 2000 was for the previous
government. There is no negative growth rate, the economy is
functioning, the inflation rate is low and we stand chances of
retaining a good credit rating in financial circles, Mesic said.
(Hina) ms sb