ZAGREB, Oct 27 (Hina) - A delegation of the European Union (EU) has not come in Zagreb to lodge a protest note over anything, but this visit should be interpreted in the context of the cooperation between the EU and the Republic of
Croatia, said Jukka Valtasaari, the State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Finland which is chairing the EU in this half of the 1999.
ZAGREB, Oct 27 (Hina) - A delegation of the European Union (EU) has
not come in Zagreb to lodge a protest note over anything, but this
visit should be interpreted in the context of the cooperation
between the EU and the Republic of Croatia, said Jukka Valtasaari,
the State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry of Finland which is
chairing the EU in this half of the 1999.#L#
EU representatives have come to find possible difficulties and
obstacles in this cooperation and to see how we can remove them, the
Finnish diplomat said at a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.
On Tuesday evening, the EU delegation held talks with a National
Sabor Vice President Vladimir Seks, and on Wednesday they were
received by Premier Zlatko Matesa, Foreign Minister Mate Granic,
European Integration Ljerka Mintas-Hodak. In addition, EU
officials also met representatives of the Opposition Six, OSCE
mission's office staff and United States representatives.
The EU delegation handed over a demarche to Premier Matesa, in which
the EU does not express a protest but concern, as Valtasaari said,
over some issues regarding the coming election in Croatia.
Valtasaari explained that it is the written demarche, and it was
lodged with the Premier as the President of the Republic of Croatia
was not available.
As regards the contents of the demarche, the Finnish diplomat said
it did not include anything new, and the EU had already three times
this year intervened regarding the same issue - the electoral
legislation.
The EU voiced concern about four groups of problems: how refugees
and displaced persons should cast ballots, the voting of the
Diaspora, how many seats in the Sabor will be for national
minorities and the issue of voters' lists, Valtasaari added.
To solve these issues in a satisfactory manner will result in free
and fair elections, he said and pointed out the importance of the
international monitoring of the election.
Jukka Valtasaari said the EU delegation and Croatian government
officials also considered the cooperation between Croatia and the
International War Crimes Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
He added that he would like to remove some misunderstanding which
appeared in the Croatian media about the number of demarches. The
press announced two demarches: one referring to the election, the
other to the ICTY. However the EU delegation brought only one
demarche which also emphasised the necessity of Croatia to assist
the ICTY, he explained.
I stress that neither of these reasons for concern is not new, but
problems have been accumulating, this diplomat told reporters.
Asked about objections to the announced date of the election (22
December), Valtasaari said the EU regarded this date as too near
Christmas, and this situation can cause trouble for international
monitoring of the voting. But, he stressed, the President has the
right to call elections whenever he wants.
(hina) jn ms