LOWER HOUSE ENDORSES RATIFICATION OF SPECIAL RELATIONS AGREEMENT

ZAGREB, March 10 (Hina) - Representatives of parliamentary benches at the Croatian National Sabor's House of Representatives on Wednesday endorsed the ratification of the Agreement on Special Relations between Croatia and the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina. Commenting on the proposal, the MPs, though, presented a number of warnings. The Agreement on Special Relations, said Foreign Minister Mate Granic, reinforces the sovereignty and the quality of being a constituent people of Croats in the Federation, as well as the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Once the Agreement on Special Relations and its annexes are ratified, it won't be possible any more to accuse Croatia of interfering with Federation's and Bosnia-Herzegovina's affairs. Croatia takes special care to prevent the Agreement or any of its annexes from linking it with Yugoslavia, he stressed. The Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS) bench supported the ratification of the Agreement. The document is important, it protects the Croat people on 51 per cent of the territory from being outvoted, because it envisages decision-making by consensus, HSLS president Drazen Budisa said. Ratification of the agreement was also supported by the Liberal Party (LS) bench. Bozo Kovacevic of the LS said that all three nations in BH should be sovereign and constituent on the whole territory of BH. This was described as a matter of national interest also by other parliamentary benches, who said it was one of the preconditions for the return of refugees to their homes, for example, for the return of Croats to the northern Bosnian region of Posavina. The MPs warned of the possibility that the Bosnian Serb entity might sign a similar agreement with Yugoslavia. "This could indirectly lead to the political and strategic position we have been persistently rejecting - which is any kind of association or symbiosis with Yugoslavia", said Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP). Mato Arlovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) warned about calls for the establishment of three BH entities. "The concept of three sovereign peoples, but each in its own entity, smells strongly of the other two peoples becoming minorities in those entities", Arlovic said. The United States and international community do not accept the proposal on three entities, Granic said. He added that proposals concerning the establishment of cantons in Bosnia-Herzegovina were not new, they had been put forward before and after the Dayton peace agreement. Bosnian Croats would benefit most from applying the legitimate and lawful Dayton agreement, he added. Croatia has so far submitted to the Federation 12 annexes to the Agreement on Special Relations, and another 7 to 12 annexes should be submitted soon. All annexes should be signed by May 1, 1999, Granic added. The Agreement on Special Relations between Croatia and the BH Federation was signed on November 22, 1998. (hina) mm rml