RACAN: GOVT OWES SPEEDY CHANGES AT HRT TO VOTERS

ZAGREB, March 9 (Hina) - The new Croatian authority will have to fulfil its electoral pledge and quickly transform the Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) into a public medium which will serve no- one, not even the present government, Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan said in Zagreb on Thursday. Racan said the Government did not hurry with changes at the HRT with which it gave some people who were propagandists of the former policy and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) a chance to show their capability of adjusting to a public television. "Some have evidently exploited this, some have not," Racan said. He recalled that the transformation of the television was primarily a domestic need and European satisfaction and criticism surrounding the issue are less important. Fortunately, changes the new authorities wish to implement in Croatia significantly and for the most part correlate with the expectations of the international community, Racan said, convinced that Croatia, if it wishes to be a European country, must adopt European criteria. Times in which Croatian officials took it for a right to lecture Europe, and at the same time knock on its doors, are a thing of the past, Racan said upon returning from Berlin. (hina) lml jn