STANDSTILL IN REINTEGRATION OF E. CROATIA OVERCOME

( Editorial: --> 7635 ) ZAGREB, Mar 6 (Hina) - After a standstill in resolving problems on the ground which have been obstructing the course of peaceful reintegration of eastern Croatia, progress has been made, the vice presidents of the National Trust Establishment Committee, Ivica Vrkic and Vojislav Stanimirovic, said Friday. We estimate we are entering another stage of active constituting of all assumptions for the functioning of the legal system in the Danube river region of eastern Croatia, Vrkic told reporters in Zagreb after a committee session. Slowly but surely we are coming out of the standstill, he said. With the two-way return, the individual resolving of property problems, and a more favourable security situation in the Danubian region we want to create conditions for safe living for local people and those who intend to return to the region, Vrkic said. The revival of economy is of utmost importance for the return, Vrkic pointed out. Stanimirovic said the National Committee was encouraged by what had been agreed at a Government session yesterday. Progress has been noticed on the ground as well, he pointed out. The first 100 families who are in the most difficult position in the Danubian area will in the next days be returned to their former homes or accommodated in empty houses purchased by the Agency for Facilitating Real Estate Transactions or, Stanimirovic said, their property will be purchased depending on their wish. These families may be a source of incidents, he said, as Croatian returnees insist on instantaneously returning to those houses. The situation of the remaining 2,000 to 2,500 families who are in eastern Slavonia will be resolved next month, Stanimirovic said. We have been encouraged by some Government decisions referring to the rescinding of a law on flat leasing and a law on the temporary take-over of abandoned property, Stanimirovic said. He added these decisions would certainly resolve property and legal relations not only in eastern Slavonia, but elsewhere in Croatia as well. In the forthcoming period, we believe the National Committee will also have to engage sub-committees on all levels, Stanimirovic said, not only in eastern Slavonia but in other parts of Croatia too. These committees, he said, must join local self-government units in giving more active support on the ground to the peaceful reintegration and the return of all displaced persons to their homes. (hina) ha mm 061423 MET mar 98