ROME, Oct 28 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told Trieste's daily "Piccolo" that Croatia would continue its cooperation with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal, and negotiations with Italy about the
property of Italian refugees, but only those to whom the Osim and Rome agreement did not apply.
ROME, Oct 28 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told
Trieste's daily "Piccolo" that Croatia would continue its
cooperation with the Hague-based international war crimes
tribunal, and negotiations with Italy about the property of Italian
refugees, but only those to whom the Osim and Rome agreement did not
apply. #L#
"A bilateral commission should ascertain whether there are Italian
refugees from WW2 who, based on the Croatian law on
denationalisation, would have the right to property restitution,"
Picula said.
Asked whether the case of retired General Janko Bobetko had pulled
Croatia away from Europe, Picula replied that "Croatia and Europe
are as close as they were before the issuing of the arrest warrant
against Bobetko."
With regards to the implementation of the Stability Pact for the
Southeast of Europe, the Croatian minister announced the signing of
a free trade agreement with other countries of the region.
Speaking about the position of the Croatian minority in Italy,
Picula asked that Croats in Molise have equal rights as Croatia was
providing for the Italian minority, and added that Croats in the
south of Italy, 60,000 of them, should be enabled to have cultural
assemblies.
Picula said that Croatia had made great progress in "the process of
democratisation, human and minority rights protection, media
freedom and the return of refugees to their homes, which are all
basic conditions for the process of rapprochement with the EU."
(hina) lml