CONFERENCE ON NATO, EU ROLE IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE CONTINUES

LJUBLJANA, May 9 (Hina) - An international conference on the role of the European Union and NATO in Southeast Europe and the inclusion of countries belonging and gravitating to that region into integration processes continued in Brdo near Kranj, Slovenia, on Tuesday. The conference gathers representatives of governments and non- governmental organisations. "Croatia wants to be a serious and esteemed partner to the international community in EU and NATO expansion processes," Croatia's Assistant Foreign Minister Mislav Kukoc told the conference. Kukoc said Croatia's new government had been given a series of positive signals by the international community in view of faster integration with Euro-Atlantic structures. Due to the difficult economic situation, Croatia however expects more substantial assistance in overcoming economic difficulties, he added. As regards integration processes, Kukoc said Croatia supported views that the inclusion of candidate-states into the EU and other integration processes should be perceived as a regatta in which identical rights apply to all, and not as a journey in which faster ships have to wait for the slower ones. Kukoc pointed to the genuine efforts and actions the Croatian government was taking in terms of refugee returns and cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. All war crimes suspects outside of Croatia should also be brought before The Hague tribunal, he asserted. (hina) ha mm