CRO FUTURE MUST BE PROGRESSIVE, SUCCESSFUL, JUST - SAYS MESIC

RIJEKA, Jan 18 (Hina) - Croatia's future must be progressive, successful, just, in one word - European, presidential candidate Stipe Mesic told a pre-electoral rally in the northern port of Rijeka on Tuesday. According to Mesic, Croatia's past "could have been better had we decentralised the authorities and funds, had we joined with BH (neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina) against the Serb aggressor, had we opened to the world instead of being isolated because of bad government." Our economy has been destroyed, our citizens robbed, while 200 families live in wealth, said Mesic, adding Croatia's citizens did not deserve this. He advocated an integral revision of privatisation and the work of state services, to establish where there was embezzlement and fraud and on what taxpayers' money was spent. "This government needs a corrective factor which cannot be bribed or corrupted, and I promise to the citizens that, if elected president, I will resign to that office with the same property as upon stepping into office," Mesic said. All capital that is to come into Croatia must be used for economic development, so that the undisputed human potential Croatia has can be put into use, he announced. "Let's turn to the 21st century, let's turn to the future, let's make Croatia a country made to the measure of its young people and its pensioners, a country made to the measure of all of its citizens," Mesic said. (hina) ha