DUBROVNIK CONFERENCE ON EU SECURITY IN 21ST CENTURY RESUMES

DUBROVNIK, May 7 (Hina) - An international symposium on European security in the 21st century and challenges in south-east Europe, which started on Thursday in Dubrovnik (southern Croatia), resumed on Friday. Addressing the meeting today was General Carlo Bellisonni, director of the Military Strategic Research Centre in Italy, who said that the crisis in south-east Europe was caused primarily by nationalism, weak parliaments and organised crime. Bellisonni suggested the organisation of a large international conference on problems in the Balkans and ways to transform the region into a south-east European region. Reneo Lukic of the Laval University in Canada spoke about the US policy in south-east Europe. The crucial moment for America's more active role in solving problems in the region was August 1995, when US President Bill Clinton approved a new plan and a programme for the resolution of the crisis in the former Yugoslavia. Speaking about the Kosovo crisis and America's relationship to the problem, Lukic said President Clinton had conducted a policy of detachment from the region, which included however very close monitoring of the situation. In the period between 1996 and 1998, the US had to change the policy, and the result of that change were NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia. Veselko Grubisic of the Croatian Foreign Ministry spoke on behalf of Deputy Foreign Minister Ivo Sanader, who could not attend the conference due to other engagements. Grubisic read out sections of Sanader's report, which had been prepared for the conference. The region of south-east Europe would have developed in a democratic way, had Croatia and Slovenia been recognised at the start and had Slobodan Milosevic's attempts at conquest been met with the same degree of determination that is applied today. Croatia was aware of the danger which may result from the Kosovo crisis because it was a member of the joint federation and during its struggle for independence it repeatedly warned of a scenario which could include the destabilisation of Albania and Macedonia and the involvement of a number of countries in the conflict. Croatia hopes to enter the next century as a Partnership for Peace and World Trade Organisation member, and as a country with developed institutional relations with the European Union. At the same time it wants to help in establishing permanent political stability in its neighbourhood, because it is a guarantee of its own safety and accelerated development, Grubisic said. (hina) rml