EU SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT PUBLIC TELEVISION - MUDRINIC

( Editorial: --> 6493 ) ZAGREB, 22 Jan (Hina) - The talks between a delegation of Croatian Radio-Television (HRT) and representatives of the European Parliament and European Commission, held on 20 and 21 January in Brussels, were talks between equal partners, HRT Director Ivica Mudrinic and Croatian Television (HTV) Editor-in-Chief Hloverka Novak Srzic told a press conference in Zagreb on Thursday, dismissing newspaper headlines saying the Croatian delegation had been criticised and lectured in Brussels. Mudrinic said the European Union was not imposing any specific form of organisation of television, but supported a strong public television as an independent institution. The status of HRT in Croatia was judged good, he added. After the completion of the peaceful reintegration and the establishment of sovereignty over the whole of Croatia's territory, HRT is turning towards the development of the Croatian state, the strengthening of democracy and the establishment of relations with important partner-institutions in the European Union and its members, Mudrinic said, announcing visits to Italy's RAI and Austria's ORF and some other TV stations of Central European countries which are not EU members. The talks in Brussels also tackled the political situation in Croatia, Mudrinic said. HTV Editor-in-Chief Novak-Srzic said the HRT delegation had presented ways it would follow social issues in Croatia in different programmes. (hina) jn rm 222014 MET jan 98