ZAGREB SUMMIT IS NEW STAGE OF EU EXPANSION -- CRO FOREIGN MINISTER

ZAGREB, Nov 24 (Hina) - The Zagreb Summit signifies the entrance into a new stage of expansion of the European Union and regions to which Croatia belongs, Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula told the Croatian Television Friday night. #L# Asked to comment on the difference in ratio of funds the EU was prepared to grant countries of the region, Picula said "this difference is yielded from the difference of conditions in which peoples of certain countries live". Some areas in Europe's Southeast with special devastation need "a significantly greater financial injection to begin recuperating". "I think Croatia has been discriminated in this sense for a reason, as it does not need resources for purposes such as Kosovo or Serbia or Bosnia-Herzegovina need," Picula said. He asserted Croatia was interested in not only means from European funds, but "Croatia wishes to receive direct investments into its economy". Asked about Croatia's stance towards EU's insisting, relayed by French President Jacques Chirac, that countries of the region should sign conventions on cooperation. Picula said he saw the content of these conventions primarily as a fight against organised crime, without which a long-term stable region was not possible. "In this sense the need for cooperation at the level of justice and internal affairs ministries has been especially accentuated." "it should also be said that Chirac had said that the general context of this cooperation can be an open dialogue. This is the most important content f these conventions which will in time be established among countries in the region," he stressed. Explaining the Croatian stance towards the announcement of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic on a referendum on the independence of Montenegro, Picula stressed the area of Yugoslavia still had an undefined future, and solutions would have to be searched for in negotiations between Yugoslavia and Serbia. "Will this happen at the time as announced by the Montenegrin president remains to be seen, but before this happens, we would certainly like to see successful negotiations between Belgrade and Podgorica which would be a true contribution to the stabilisation of the situation in Southeast Europe," Picula asserted. (hina) lml jn