TOMAC MEETS OSCE AND STABILITY PACT OFFICIALS IN BRUSSELS

ZAGREB/BRUSSELS, Sept 18 (Hina) - Croatian Parliament Deputy Speaker Zdravko Tomac held talks with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Adrian Severin and Stability Pact Special Coordinator Bodo Hombach, in Brussels on Tuesday. Tomac, who is also the head of the Sabor's foreign affairs committee, and Mate Granic, the Sabor's European integration committee's head, took part in a parliamentary conference on stability in South East Europe, held at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday. Tomac's talks with Severin, the president of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) Parliamentary Assembly, revolved mostly around the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "Bosnia-Herzegovina should now make concrete moves regarding constitutional reforms, which must equate the status of the entities and the state and make all the three peoples equal on the entire territory (of Bosnia-Herzegovina). This will not be possible without great pressure and engagement of the international community," Tomac told Hina on the phone. He reiterated that there would be no stability in the region if Bosniak (Muslim) and Croat refugees were not able to return to their pre-war homes in the Bosnian Serb entity. In Tomac's mind, the current model of international administration in Bosnia is a form of protectorate which must undergo some changes as it is generating crisis in the country. Tomac and Granic, who agreed with him, relayed this stand to Bosnia's parliamentary delegation in Brussels. They also invited their Bosnian colleagues to visit Croatia. At the talks with Bodo Hombach, Tomac said the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe had no alternative for Croatia. It is a framework within which Croatia "can express its dimensions as a central European, Mediterranean, Danube and Balkan country," Tomac said. "At the same time we resolutely oppose any attempt to bring into question the individual approach to the European Union," the Croatian parliamentarian said, adding Zagreb was in favour of regional cooperation but opposed new regional institutions. In his address at the parliamentary conference in Brussels, Tomac said "Croatia had great expectations from the Stability Pact, but (the pact) did not live up to them." We regard the Stability Pact as a good basis for the establishment of permanent peace and security and Croatia therefore advocates the comprehensive implementation of the Pact, Tomac said. (hina) ms