STRASBOURG, June 24 (Hina) - The head of a Croatian delegation at the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly, Nikola Obuljen, and Bulgarian delegation member Evgenij Kirilov were on Thursday elected as rapporteurs on the
economic revival in south-eastern Europe in the wake of the Kosovo crisis. A report on the matter should be drafted for the assembly's sitting in September. This week, the CoE Parliamentary Assembly has been discussing the political, security, and economic issues raised by the recent Kosovo crisis. Croatian delegation member Zdravka Busic told the assembly the CoE and the entire international community had done everything to find a peaceful solution and avoid destruction and human suffering. Those parliamentarians who pointed to the possibility of disaster were however proven right, she said. "Unfortunately, the dream of Great Serbia led the Serbs to, in this deca
STRASBOURG, June 24 (Hina) - The head of a Croatian delegation at
the Council of Europe (CoE) Parliamentary Assembly, Nikola
Obuljen, and Bulgarian delegation member Evgenij Kirilov were on
Thursday elected as rapporteurs on the economic revival in south-
eastern Europe in the wake of the Kosovo crisis.
A report on the matter should be drafted for the assembly's sitting
in September.
This week, the CoE Parliamentary Assembly has been discussing the
political, security, and economic issues raised by the recent
Kosovo crisis.
Croatian delegation member Zdravka Busic told the assembly the CoE
and the entire international community had done everything to find
a peaceful solution and avoid destruction and human suffering.
Those parliamentarians who pointed to the possibility of disaster
were however proven right, she said.
"Unfortunately, the dream of Great Serbia led the Serbs to, in this
decade alone, attack their neighbours four times. This had first
been the case with Slovenia, then Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina
(BH), and now Kosovo, which we honestly hope was the last one,"
Busic said.
"The consequences of the war are still visible in Croatia and in BH.
The images from Kosovo remind of the destruction the same aggressor
had waged on Croatia."
Croatia is among the countries which have suffered major economic
damage because of the Kosovo crisis, Busic said, adding "lessons
ought to be learned from that bitter experience."
Croatia wishes for a peaceful solution for Kosovo and for the
continuation of international initiatives which, Busic said,
"after a century-long Balkan crisis and a decade of Serbian
aggression (...) will mark the beginning of stabilisation in this
part of Europe.
At the present conference, which closes on Friday, the CoE
Parliamentary Assembly also discussed the activities of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 1998.
Croatian delegation member Niko Bulic thanked the EBRD for the
support in the privatisation of Croatia's tourist sector.
He was especially grateful for the increased EBRD assistance in the
renovation of hotels in the Dubrovnik area, southern-most Croatia,
which after the Serbian aggression, now suffered economically
because of Kosovo.
(hina) ha