VETERANS MINISTER COMMENTS ON STATEMENTS AT FRIDAY UHVDR ASSEMBLY

VUKOVAR, Sept 16 (Hina) - Asked to comment on a statement at Friday's assembly of the Croatian Association of Homeland War Veterans (UHVDR) in Vinkovci that state officials should be more level-headed and avoid sensationalism when commenting on the Homeland War and war victims, Veterans' Minister Ivica Pancic told Hina Saturday "everybody should be responsible for what they are saying in democracy. Many dangerous statements have been made lately and they do no one good, the least of all Croatia." Pancic was speaking at the beginning of the fifth all-Croatian sport competition of Homeland War veterans, which he opened in Vukovar today. Despite opposition from some veterans' associations, the draft bill on the rights of Croatian Homeland War soldiers will be sent into parliamentary procedure, the minister said. "I am not concerned about the reactions of one part of those associations because Croatian soldiers did not fight for privileges but for the Croatian state," Pancic said, adding those who opposed the bill had shown they did not care about other categories of the population but exclusively about their own interests. Asked when the dialogue between the authorities and veterans' associations would start, Pancic said one should "first establish which associations are of national interest for the Republic of Croatia." According to Pancic, "one of the principal criteria in that process will be respect for the constitutional order and democracy. Those associations which do not respect the constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia and democracy cannot be partners to this or any other democratic authority in Croatia," he said. (hina) rml