MONITORING COMMITTEE SATISFIED WITH WORK OF CROATIAN DELEGATION

STRASBOURG, 26 June (Hina) - The president of the Council of Europe Monitoring Committee, Guido de Marco, stated that he was impressed with the objectivity and quality of work of the Croatian delegation at a meeting held on Tuesday in Strasbourg. #L# Speaking at a press conference in Strasbourg on Thursday, the former Maltese Foreign Minister said that Tuesday's meeting between the Monitoring Committee and members of the Croatian parliamentary delegation in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly 'has shown that Croatia's opposition can be objective in its work, which is a sign of their quality.' Members of Croatia's opposition parties showed an exceptional sense of national responsibility in answering questions concerning their country, such as the return of displaced people and refugees, the right to property and cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), de Marco said. Croatia is a country which emerged from a long period of dictatorship and a war, de Marco said, expressing understanding for Croatia's current problems. The Croatian opposition representatives admitted that problems do exist in Croatia but they also stressed that their country was doing all it could to secure respect for human rights, rule of law and basic principles of the Council of Europe, de Marco said. The Monitoring Committee is the newest committee of the Parliamentary Assembly which provides assistance, gives advice and controls to what extent each of the 40 Council of Europe member-states respects the commitments it had taken over in the moment of its admission to the Council of Europe, as well as the basic values of conventions and charters of the oldest European political organisation. The head of the Croatian parliamentary delegation in the Parliamentary Assembly and Croatian Parliament Vice President, Zarko Domljan and Count Eltz Vukovarski are members of the Monitoring Committee. (hina) rm 261537 MET jun 97