AGREEMENT ON RECONSTRUCTION SIGNED IN ERNESTINOVO

ERNESTINOVO, June 30 (Hina) - The municipal leadership of Ernestinovo, a village in eastern Slavonia, and representatives of the European Commission and the organisation Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB) on Wednesday signed a 420,000-euro-worth agreement on the reconstruction of 16 houses and a water pump site in the village, and the reconstruction of the water supply system in the neighbourhood of Divos. The first agreement signed between the European Union and local officials in Ernestinovo in October last year, amounted to 770,000 euros and was aimed at the reconstruction of 16 houses in Ernestinovo, another 17 houses in Drvos, and a water pump site and part of the low-voltage power grid in neighbouring Laslovo. Of the 937 housing units in Ernestinovo, which were damaged in the war, 421 have been reconstructed. Of the 2,170 registered refugees, 1,070 have returned to the village, the Ernestinovo municipal head Ladislav Ferenc said. Ferenc said another 250 houses in the village had to be reconstructed, farmland had to be cleared of mines and economy and small-scale entrepreneurship had to be revived. Welcoming the signing of the agreement, the head of the ASB Office in Croatia, Alfons Peeters, said the aim of the European Union's programme on reconstruction in eastern Slavonia was reintegration and reconciliation, which, according to him, had been realised by the Ernestinovo municipality in full. EC's special envoy to Croatia Per Vinther said it was important to demonstrate concrete results in the process of return and reconciliation, which was the purpose of all EU-financed projects. Ernestinovo has chosen the future and not the past, he added. (hina) rml