DC BACKS PREVLAKA PROTOCOL, BUT THINKS BETTER SOLUTION WAS POSSIBLE

ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - The Democratic Centre (DC) party supports the signing of the Protocol on Prevlaka with Yugoslavia, but believes that, despite positive elements, Croatia has made a painful compromise by recognising special circumstances for Yugoslavia and Montenegro. There is no call for triumphalism here, DC president Mate Granic said at Thursday's news conference in Zagreb. #L# The party considers that the signing of the protocol is headway in reaching a final solution to the problem, since, until now, Croatia had no jurisdiction over its southernmost area. The painful compromise for Granic is the fact that Croatia completely recognised special circumstances from Article 15 of UN's Convention on maritime law, because of which it will be difficult to change the temporary demarcation on sea in future negotiations or "under international arbitration", he said. Granic also sees a painful compromise in the agreement on a joint vessel of Croatia and Yugoslavia, which would patrol along the Prevlaka coastline, near the Croatian sea. The positive thing is that UN peace troops will leave Prevlaka, which is important for the overall regional stability, as well as the fact that residents of Croatia's southernmost part will at last be able to access their property. The DC president, however, believes that better and fairer solutions could have been reached. (hina) lml sb