CROATIA WILL NOT JOIN ANY BALKAN UNIONS, RACAN REASSURES

ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - "The Croatian government does not glorify Europe, but it would be prudent not to look for an enemy in it either," Prime Minister Ivica Racan stated at a parliamentary session Wednesday, answering Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MP Zdravka Busic's question on German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher's unofficial initiative on a Balkan economic union. "We will protect the individual, not the collective approach to the European integration process, and I will insist on that at the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement on October 26," the PM said. He reminded Croatia should soon be admitted to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), and would join that organisation as an individual country, not as a member of any Balkan union. Foreign Affairs Minister Tonino Picula pointed out Croatia's joining the European Union would only be dictated by the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and the dynamics of the Croatian economy's adjustment to European standards. "Unfortunately, I am positive Croatia will not become the 16th EU member, but I am also positive we will not be the last country of the old continent to join the Union," Picula said. Answering HDZ MP Ante Beljo's question whether the government was acting on International Monetary Fund's instructions with their social reform bill and when selling state owned companies, Racan said the government was only acting on its own, previously declared policy. "It is not a policy of selling out our national interests, but a policy of reform and privatisation, and it will continue," he stated. Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic also pointed out privatisation was a straight-forward government initiative, in line with the protection from the so-called speculative investments. We are trying to determine how safe the investors are, and whether they are going to invest into further economic development of the country, Linic explained. Another HDZ MP, Milan Kovac, asked the PM why Zagreb had not reacted to the president of the Bosnian HDZ Ante Jelavic's trial in Sarajevo, which, he said, was going against the Dayton Peace Accord. Racan reassured him the government was following the trial, and would react if necessary. "We realise that Bosnia-Herzegovina is an independent country, and will not and can not influence the work of their courts from Zagreb," he concluded. (hina) js