BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3879

HR-FORUMS-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3879 BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 3879HINA Zagreb 20 January 2001FOREIGN MINISTER: IDENTIFICATION WITH SOUTHEAST EUROPE DETRIMENTAL TO CROATIABERLIN/ZAGREB, Jan 20 (Hina) - Addressing a German forum in Berlin on Saturday, Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said Croatia bordered on three different regions but was too often identified with Europe's south-east, which he maintained was unjustifiable and detrimental to both Croatia and Europe. Picula was speaking at the German Bertelsmann foundation's third forum on a Europe without frontiers. Croatia borders on three very different regions, Central Europe, the Mediterranean, and Southeast Europe, deriving its cultural, economic, and political identity from all three, he said. He added, however, that when the frameworks of a European policy were considered, Croatia was too often identified with Europe's south-east for which, he stressed, there was not one valid justification. This type