CROATIA STILL WITHOUT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY - MESIC

SPLIT, May 5 (Hina) - President Stipe Mesic said on Saturday Croatia still did not have a clear development strategy except access to the European Union and NATO. "We in Croatia still don't even have a consensus as to the model of state we want, and furthermore, its social wealth is being destroyed," he said in the southern Adriatic city of Split in a lecture organised by the European Movement for university professors and public, social and economic figures. The ultimate consequence is an ineffective rule-of-law and the creation of many redundant and artificial divisions, said Mesic. Every individual's safety is a condition necessary for the state to develop further, the President said and called on the residents of Split, the Dalmatia region and Croatia to affirm "true values." "For Croatia, as well as for security in this part of Europe it would mean much more if the international community assisted in the building of a highway connecting the Adriatic and Ionian Seas instead of all the political actions the international community is taking," the President said. (hina) ha sb