KRPINA ASKS PM RACAN TO RESPOND TO BRITISH AMBASSADOR'S STATEMENT

ZAGREB, June 16 (Hina) - A member of the Croatian national parliament, Drago Krpina, on Thursday issued an open letter asking Premier Ivica Racan to respond to a statement the British Ambassador Colin Andrew Munro gave to a local radio station on 15 June. Asked by a 'Radio 101' reporter how he had experienced a change of authorities in Croatia at the January 3 election, Ambassador Munro answered that he had viewed it as a democratic revolution like one that had taken place in East Germany ten years before, Krpina wrote in the letter. For Krpina "this comparison is not only below the good taste but it is also beyond common sense," and the deputy to the Sabor assessed that this was a worrisome diplomatic precedent which blatantly insults the dignity of the entire people and its independent and democratic state. Krpina asked Prime Minister whether he would tell Foreign Minister to call British diplomat Munro and protest over this unheard-of and gross insult. He reiterated that a great majority of Croatian citizens had voted against the totalitarian Communist regime in Croatia at the first multiparty elections in 1990 and that in the last ten years, under very difficult conditions when Croatia had to defend itself against the Greater Serbian aggression, a democratic political system had been established. (hina) mm ms