GRANIC: CROATIA MUST BE A COUNTRY INTEGRATED INTO EUROPE

( Editorial: --> 0488 ) ZAGREB, Mar 18 (Hina) - Croatia must without any doubt be a country integrated into Europe, Foreign Minister Mate Granic said Wednesday at a session of the Croatian National Parliament's House of Representatives. There is no doubt that Croatia must comply with every obligation, whether in the implementation of the Dayton peace agreement or the reintegration of the Danube River region, Granic said. It is the only way to win confidence in the world, he pointed out. Unequal measures are being used to assess what Croatia and the other sides have done in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Foreign Minister said, but pointed out Croatia had undoubtedly done the most in the implementation of the Dayton agreements. Granic recalled that not one Bosniak (Muslim) had been accused of crimes which had been proven, that an equal attitude was not used towards all sides and that after only two months people were already speaking about some sort of democracy in the Bosnian Serb entity. "We are not satisfied with the many unfair and unjust pressures on Croatia lately, especially on the President of the Republic," Granic said. In answer to Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), who objected to Croatian Ambassador to the United States Miomir Zuzul's response to a letter by US congressmen calling for additional pressure on Croatia, the Foreign Minister said a misconception was sometimes made of Croatia on the basis of incorrect data. According to Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa, at the moment state interests must be above party and other interests. Speaking about a decision banning political rallies in the Danube region, Matesa said nothing would happen to any political party if they did not hold rallies in eastern Croatia. The Premier told Nikola Ivanis of the Rijeka Democratic Alliance he doubted the correctness of Ivanis's assessment that the decision on the ban was unconstitutional. The government has made certain legal analyses and the competent parliamentary committee may evaluate whether the government has in any way acted contrary to the fundamental principles of the Croatian system, Matesa said. The government is unable to keep an eye on where party leaders go and what they say, Matesa told Boris Kandare of the HSP, who wanted to know what would be done in the case of Istrian Democratic Party founder Ivan Pauletta, who recently took an active part in an allegedly neo-fascist round table in Rome. Regarding the building of a section of the Zagreb-Dubrovnik motorway, Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic said negotiations were in course with US construction company Bechtel, on the basis of a tripartite agreement between Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina and the US. We do not intend to build a motorway across a neighbouring country, but we are adjusting the route across BH, keeping in mind the interests of local Croats, Radic pointed out. The Ministry of Interior Affairs is willing to employ Hungarians, either in the regular or special police, and will do so in a few months, Interior Minister Ivan Penic told Sandor Jakab, a representative of the Hungarian community, who pointed out that a list of Hungarians willing to work in the police force had been submitted to the Interior Ministry a year ago. (hina) ha mm /mb 181659 MET mar 98