AHEAD OF ZAGREB SUMMIT: CAUTION STILL NECESSARY IN RELATIONS WITH FRY

ZAGREB, Nov 21 (Hina) - Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have activated their relations after the change of regime in Belgrade but caution is necessary in expectations of a quick progress of relations, Croatia's Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told Hina ahead of Friday's Zagreb Summit. A Yugoslav delegation headed by President Vojislav Kostunica is expected to attend the Summit. #L# "Soon after the elections (in FRY) we started playing an active role, but beside some positive occurrences, some happened which have convinced us we need to be cautious in expectations of quick progress in relations," Picula said. He called the current Yugoslav policy "a combination of the inherited (from the former Yugoslav president) Slobodan Milosevic and that which the new government authorities are proclaiming". "I am not certain that FRY ... will soon be able to make a crucial discontinuity in relation to Milosevic's governing," Picula said. President Kostunica said soon after his electoral victory, continuing Milosevic's policy, that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague was not a priority for Yugoslavia. Asked whether he thought the international community in some ways equalised the relations of Croatia and FRY with the ICTY, which could be assumed from Monday's speech made by ICTY president Claude Jorda before the UN, Picula said "it is impossible to equalise the relations of the Croatian Government with the ICTY with what the new Yugoslav President and the new Government are attempting to avoid". Yugoslavia "is rhetorically attenuating the attitude of Milosevic's policy, but it all comes down to the same thing," Picula said, adding he held this Yugoslav stance would have to be changed should FRY wish to move closer to European associations. Picula called the Zagreb Summit, taking place this Friday, and for which only the Yugoslav delegation has not yet confirmed its attendance, "a unique opportunity for prejudice to be removed and perspectives created". "The Summit is of great significance for Croatia because it will formally begin negotiations with the EU, which is the first institutional step towards the Union," Picula said, adding the conference was also an opportunity to clearly demonstrate to the Croatian public the degree of European Union's interest for processes in the country since the parliamentary elections of January 3. The EU is in Zagreb clearly demonstrating its political will to involve the Southeast of Europe in its expansion. Picula said Croatia would by the end of the next decade enter the EU, not exactly as the first to join the fifteen member countries, but among the first ones. He added there were groups who see Croatia's drawing closer to the EU as a first class threat as it "would sever certain monopolies". (hina) lml jn