ZAGREB DECLARATION HOLDS NO DANGER FOR CROATIA - PM RACAN

ZAGREB, Dec 5 (Hina) - Prime Minister Ivica Racan told parliament's lower house on Tuesday the government saw no danger in a declaration adopted at the recent Zagreb Summit to Croatia's position that the road to Brussels be individual and not bound by regional conditions. We are for economic cooperation but will in no way allow double criteria, nor let regional cooperation slow down Croatia's integration with Euro-Atlantic structures, Racan responded to an inquiry from Ante Beljo of the Croatian Democratic Union during Question Morning. Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights inquired why the government did not react to European Commission president Romano Prodi's statement that former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's extradition to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague was not a priority and that the European Union would not make it a condition for Yugoslavia. There is a dispute as to what was actually said in Belgrade, Racan said, adding what was reported as Prodi's statement was inadmissible, and that the government refused double standards and criteria and was taking steps in relation to the matter. Asked how Croatian businessmen could go to Belgrade on the anniversary of the fall of eastern martyr-town of Vukovar, the PM said the visit and some businessmen' statements might have been out of line, but that the government could not be held accountable. Racan stressed he saw no reason why Croatian companies should not try to expand their market onto Yugoslavia. Speaking about salaries in the public sector, he said the government was not cutting them. We want to create better economic conditions and make workers better paid, but first we have to pay the bills of the former government, he said. Deputy PM Slavko Linic said economic trends had changed considerably this year, with a higher gross national product and import, and lower labour costs, illiquidity, and the deficit in the balance of payments. He said this had still not affected salary growths, but that salaries and the number of employed people should rise next year thanks to further cuts in production costs, drops in the prices of domestic products and faster privatisation. (hina) ha