ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - "The reason why Tudjman is so disliked in Brussels is that he is the democratically elected and popular architect of Croatia's national sovereignty", read London's daily "The Times" on Tuesday. "Mr Tudjman is
demonised yet further for having recaptured Croatian territory from invading Serb forces in 1995. He may also prove difficult to manipulate when the EU tries to shoehorn Croatia back into some new southern European federation, or a new super- Yugoslavia, which the EU calls its Stability Pact", read The Times article written by John Laughland. He said that diplomatic ultimatums and unilateral demands, presented by powerful governments to weak ones, used to be things from the past. According to him, the European Union is determined to resurrect the practice. In his article, Laughland reminded that Brussels issued a demarche to the Croatian Government on October 27, in
ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - "The reason why Tudjman is so disliked in
Brussels is that he is the democratically elected and popular
architect of Croatia's national sovereignty", read London's daily
"The Times" on Tuesday.
"Mr Tudjman is demonised yet further for having recaptured Croatian
territory from invading Serb forces in 1995. He may also prove
difficult to manipulate when the EU tries to shoehorn Croatia back
into some new southern European federation, or a new super-
Yugoslavia, which the EU calls its Stability Pact", read The Times
article written by John Laughland.
He said that diplomatic ultimatums and unilateral demands,
presented by powerful governments to weak ones, used to be things
from the past. According to him, the European Union is determined to
resurrect the practice.
In his article, Laughland reminded that Brussels issued a demarche
to the Croatian Government on October 27, in the time when Croatia
was preparing to hold parliamentary elections.
"Its message was simple; if the ruling party stays in power, Croatia
will be economically and diplomatically isolated", read the
article.
The EU accused the Croatian Government of ignoring "most of the EU's
views on a new electoral law" - even though, Laughland said, it said
four years ago that the country had fulfilled all the political
conditions for EU membership.
Laughland said that in reality, these requirements are nothing but
a pretext for attacking the ruling Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ).
He also stressed that many EU worthies, including Romano Prodi,
used Brezhnevite vocabulary in May, when the Union drafted a
document demanding 'political normalisation' in Croatia before the
end of the year.
According to Laughland, since then, the EU has been explicitly
supporting the opposition. Further on, he pointed to the fact that
members of the Opposition have been invited to participate in a
Brussels summit later this month, right in the middle of the
election campaign.
He said that the timing had been calculated to frighten Croat voters
into believing that their country would be isolated if the
Government was returned.
"It is already clear that sovereignty and the defence of national
borders are considered to be outdated concepts in the new Europe: it
is a shame that, on the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin
Wall, the right of peoples to choose their own government seems to
have been demolished as well", Laughland concluded in his article.
(hina) it jn