PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES COMMENT ON BORDER AGREEMENT WITH SLOVENIA

ZAGREB, July 20 (Hina) - A Croatian-Slovene border agreement, initialled by the two governments on Friday, could become a new stumbling block on Croatia's political scene, according to opposition party leaders. Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) said his party was surprised by how fast a decision to that effect was made, considering that border regimes were not previously defined. IDS' voting for the ratification of the agreement will depend on how precisely the border regimes are regulated, especially with regard to people living in local border areas, said Kajin. He added the agreement had given Slovenia a concession it would never have got in international arbitration, but also that said arbitration was in neither country's interest. Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) said the government, by initialling the agreement, "has once against settled for a policy of blackmail, fearing possible pressure from the Slovene side once Slovenia joins the EU." Djapic said the HSP would vote against the ratification. He added the government should not have consented to trading with territory as ratification might pose a dangerous precedent for other open border issues, like Prevlaka, which borders on the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro. "The agreement gives Slovenia unnecessary concessions, which are not a compromise solution... it is indisputable that Slovenia got what it wanted, but it is unclear what Croatia got," the Democratic Centre (DC) said in a statement. The territorial exit Slovenia has won to open sea is not in keeping with international sea law and the UN Charter on sea law, which gives Slovenia undisturbed transit to the open sea through Croatian territorial waters, read the DC statement. The party called on the government to reconsider its decision, which the DC says has caused a new political crisis. The secretary of the strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Joso Skara, thinks parliament will not ratify the agreement. The chairman of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Zlatko Tomac of the ruling coalition's Social Democrats (SDP), refused to forecast if the agreement will get parliament's support. He thinks parties should not react on an agreement whose content they are not familiar with as it polarises the public on unclear issues. He stressed Prime Minister Ivica Racan had not disclosed the agreement's details at a closed-door session the Foreign Affairs Committee held on Wednesday. The Committee concluded negotiations should resume, and actively include parliament so as to avoid differences between the government's activity and parliament's stance, said Tomac. Zlatko Kramaric of the ruling coalition's Liberal Party (LS) said that in principle, as a citizen and politician, he endorsed the government's efforts to settle all open issued with neighbours, especially those with which it had no issues in the recent past. He added, however, it remained to be seen what the application of such an agreement would mean in Croatia and to what extent it protected national interests. Decisions on such an important issue should not be made in haste and the public should be completely acquainted with the agreement's content, said Kramaric. (hina) ha