POLEMICS IN LOWER HOUSE ABOUT RELATIONS WITH EU

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - A Croatian government report on the course of negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union, presented in parliament on Wednesday, prompted polemics between parliamentary deputies of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the ruling coalition, who criticised the HDZ for "having isolated Croatia" while HDZ deputies objected the coalition was trying to integrate Croatia "in the western Balkans." Although the programmes of all parliamentary parties include Croatia's integration in the EU, which is what MP Ivo Skrabalo of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) reminded of in the debate, deputies kept returning to the relationship of the former and current authorities to Euro-Atlantic integration. Skrabalo pointed, among else, to the unreasonable fear of the term "the Balkans" and the need to "stop behaving like Balkanites." Double dealing and going back on one's promises, which is believed to be inherent to the behaviour of Balkanites, should be expelled from politics, he said. "The western Balkans" is a technical term in the EU administration, and it is not a binding framework for the creation of a western Balkan association, Skrabalo said. A heated debate on the "western Balkans" ensued after HDZ's Ivica Kostovic said his party could not accept the coalition's accusations that "the HDZ conducted a policy of isolationism." Kostovic recalled that in the ten years of the HDZ rule Croatia joined the United Nations and that activities which preceded the country's admission to the U.N. were the peaceful reintegration of the Danube River region and military liberation operations. The HDZ supports Croatia's admission to Euro-Atlantic associations exclusively on an individual basis and by no means within Balkan associations such as the "western Balkans." A series of rebuttals was triggered off by Dino Debeljuh of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) who said the HDZ was alarming citizens with the "western Balkans" although in 1999, led by the late President Franjo Tudjman, it signed a Pact on Stability in South-East Europe, which envisaged the drawing up of a joint strategy for the western Balkans. Debeljuh then rebutted claims by HDZ deputies that the IDS had conducted a secessionist policy during Croatia's war years. Other parliamentary benches conducted a calmer debate. Stjepan Radic of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) pointed to the eventual results of Istria's and Portugal's admission to the EU, which he said experienced a significant economic growth. Tonci Tadic of the Croatian Party of Rights/Croatian Christian Democratic Union (HSP/HKDU) warned that Croatia was "careless and oblivious" to both the positive and negative aspects of EU membership, and requested a broader public debate with the aim of dispelling illusions about easy access to the EU. Vesna Skare Ozbolt of the Democratic Centre (DC) said her party had reservations toward the government's haste and wish to sign the agreement with the EU at any cost. Zdravko Tomac of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said Croatia could become a full EU member in 2007 and that there was no reason to fear "the western Balkans." It is Croatia's strategic interest to develop cooperation with neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina and normalise relations with Yugoslavia, he added. (hina) sb rml