ZAGREB, Nov 11 (Hina) - Representatives of the Council of Europe +Monitoring Committee, who are on a three-day visit to Croatia, +opened their programme with a meeting with two representatives of +the Croatian media on Wednesday.+ A
number of reporters arrived to cover the meeting with the Council +of Europe rapporteurs Jerzy Jaskierny and Maria Stoyanova, but only +two journalists - Oliver Drazic of Forum 21 (an association of +electronic media journalists) and Goranka Juresko of the Zagreb-+based daily "Vjesnik" showed up for the meeting.+ The reporters covering the meeting have not been able to find out +how many and which media representatives had been invited to the +meeting.+ Jaskierny and Stoyanova said they had been deprived of one of the +most important sources for their report on Croatia's compliance +with the commitments taken over upon its admission to the Council of +Europe due to a
ZAGREB, Nov 11 (Hina) - Representatives of the Council of Europe
Monitoring Committee, who are on a three-day visit to Croatia,
opened their programme with a meeting with two representatives of
the Croatian media on Wednesday.
A number of reporters arrived to cover the meeting with the Council
of Europe rapporteurs Jerzy Jaskierny and Maria Stoyanova, but only
two journalists - Oliver Drazic of Forum 21 (an association of
electronic media journalists) and Goranka Juresko of the Zagreb-
based daily "Vjesnik" showed up for the meeting.
The reporters covering the meeting have not been able to find out
how many and which media representatives had been invited to the
meeting.
Jaskierny and Stoyanova said they had been deprived of one of the
most important sources for their report on Croatia's compliance
with the commitments taken over upon its admission to the Council of
Europe due to a communication failure between the organisers of
their meeting with the Croatian media houses.
The rapporteurs completed the meeting with a conclusion of Forum
21, conveyed by Oliver Drazic, who said that the situation on
Croatian Radio Television (HRT) "has not improved a bit since last
year". The new law on HRT is not expected to bring any changes for
the better, Drazic added.
The law still enables "ten politicians to sit in the HRT Council"
and allows the Sabor (parliament) to veto the autonomous election
of representatives of some institutions to the Council.
The HRT director still cannot be elected by the HRT Council, he
said.
The failure to privatise the third HTV (Croatian Television)
channel is indefinitely postponing the appearance of a privately-
owned television, Drazic assessed.
The non-arrival of Croatian media representatives to the meeting
with the Council of Europe delegates bears witness to the degree to
which journalists in Croatia feel threatened, Juresko estimated.
During the visit, the Council of Europe rapporteurs will also meet
representatives of Croatia's non-goverment organisations,
foreign embassies, the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)
party, executive authorities and the Croatian opposition.
Since their meetings with representatives of the Croatian
authorities and international community will be of working nature,
Jaskierny and Stoyanova said they would not give any official
statements regarding the talks at the end of their visit.
The two envoys will on the basis of their meetings make a report for
the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on the degree of
Croatia's compliance with its international commitments.
The commitments Croatia accepted upon its admission to the Council
of Europe include securing full democracy and media freedoms as
well as full respect for minority rights.
(hina) mm rml