EXTERNAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE ASKS FOR HARMONISED ACTIVITIES

ZAGREB, March 12 (Hina) - The parliamentary external affairs committee on Monday unanimously adopted a report by the foreign ministry on Croatia's approach to various regional initiatives, and said all aspects of Croatian foreign policy should be harmonised, particularly its relations with neighbours, said deputy speaker Zdravko Tomac, who chairs the committee. Thanks to its active policies and concrete regional initiatives, Croatia is realising its potential in the Central European, Mediterranean, and Danube River regions, Tomac said on Tuesday at a press conference. According to Tomac, the committee supports the government's policy of resisting western pressure to deal with its close neighbours in the institutional context of the so-called western Balkans. "In the context, the committee insists that regional cooperation on the so-called western Balkans be carried out exclusively through bilateral relations between Croatia and these countries," said Tomac. At any rate, he added, the committee concluded that these pressures, which came from a part of the European Union, have already decreased or disappeared. The committee proposed the establishment of a coordinating body for external policy, headed by the foreign minister, which would include representatives of the parliament, government and the president's office, said Tomac. Croatia relations with Bosnia and Yugoslavia were discussed the most, Tomac said. As a signatory to the Dayton Agreement, Tomac said, Croatia should not be denied its right to hold talks with Croats in Bosnia, and the committee unanimously supported parliament's stand on this issue. The committee rejected objections to that policy made by individual Bosnian officials as unfounded. Tomac said such objections are being made despite the fact that Croatia has declared itself against the establishment of special relations with the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the same time, he said, the Yugoslav parliament is preparing to ratify the Dayton Agreement, and talks are being held on establishing special relations with Republika Srpska (RS). Tomac said the committee insists on the implementation of a decision by the Bosnian constitutional court, which held that all three peoples are a constituent part of both the Federation and RS. He said now is the time to eradicate the policy of ethnic cleansing in the whole region, which found its most obvious expression in the creation of RS as a single-nation entity, or that policy will be ratified. Speaking about Yugoslavia, Tomac said the two countries are talking about a visit of a Croatian parliamentary delegation at the invitation of the Yugoslav external affairs committee. Tomac said the committee agrees with the recent call by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic to Serb refugees, and thinks the other side must make the same call to Croats and Bosniaks. "Croatia has the strength to annul the results of ethnic cleansing and have everyone who wants to return, return, but it must insist and ask the same from others," said Tomac. He added that Croatia must insist that the international community implement the constitutional court's decision that all three peoples are constituent in both entities, and eliminate the results of genocide. (hina) np sb