VOJNOVIC: STATE HAS MADE SOME PROGRESS AS REGARDS ZVO'S STATUS

VUKOVAR, Nov 12 (Hina) - Croatia has made progress in resolving the status of the Joint Council of Municipalities (ZVO), the Council's president Milos Vojnovic said on Thursday. The ZVO gathers representatives from majority Serb municipalities in the Croatian Danube region. Vojnovic today held a meeting in Vukovar with members of the Commission Article 11, which monitors the implementation of the Erdut Agreement on peaceful reintegration of the Danube region into the Croatian constitutional and legal system. We expressed our satisfaction with the fact that the state has made certain positive steps as regards ZVO's status and financing as well as with some agreements which we believe will be implemented, Vojnovic said after the talks. However, "the key elements of the Erdut Agreement have still not been resolved or if they have been, it was to an inadequate degree", Vojnovic said. Other problems discussed at today's meeting concerned the return of refugees, reconstruction and improvement of inter-ethnic dialogue. The Commission Article 11 today also met with the members of trust establishment committees from Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja counties. Vukovar-Srijem County Prefect Rudolf Koenig said the meeting had confirmed the fact that Serb citizens viewed problems in the Danube region from a completely different standpoint than that of the state. "I have to stress though that those problems are not impossible to solve", he said. (hina) jn rml