GRANIC HOLDS SPEECH AT SESSION OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE

COMMITTEE $ ZAGREB, July 29 (Hina) - The Croatian Parliament's foreign affairs committee held an extraordinary session in Zagreb on Tuesday to consider the current international position of Croatia, particularly in light of + subpoena duces tecum issued recently by The Hague International Tribunal (or ICTY) to Croatia and its Defence Minister, Gojko Susak. The session was attended by leaders of parliamentary parties and Croatian Ambassadors to the Netherlands and the UN, Jaksa Muljacic and Ivan Simonovic respectively, besides committee members. Foreign Minister Mate Granic submitted an introductory speech, who described the current international position of Croatia as delicate, complex, but stable. Speaking about pressure exerted on his country, Foreign Minister Granic said that international factors justified comparatively disproportion of pressure on and demands from Croatia in relation to other signatories of the Dayton agreement with Croatia' s higher degree of political stability, economic development and firm orientation toward EuroAtlantic institutions and real European potential. Pressure on Croatia had been exerted in several ways: by pointing out always Mostar as the basic problem of the (Croat-Moslem) Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, by pressure through the Hague Tribunal, by pressure through the World Bank and the European Bank for the Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), by pressure concerning the return of Serbs and even by insistence on cancellation of visas for the Republic of Srpska (Bosnian Serb entity), although it was only Yugoslavia that had cancelled visas with the Serb entity so far. The international community was in a great hurry to solve the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, due to possible flare-ups of a crisis on other trouble spots in the southeast of Europe, and that's why Croatia was expected, almost at all costs, to give the biggest possible contribution, Granic said. + In this light the subpoena duces tecum, re-issued to Croatia and Minister Granic, should be interpreted, Granic said. According to Granic, Croatia maintains that the subpoena exists neither in international law, the statute and rules of the ICTY, nor in any national law in the form in which this subpoena has been proposed by the Prosecution. Furthermore, it is ineffectual as the Hague Tribunal could not take action against a State. Three days after the subpoena was renewed, the Croatian Government issued a statement expressing its dissatisfaction with the decision (of the Tribunal) and announced that it would use all international and legal expedients to prove that the decision was groundless. The first step has been taken by lodging a complaint to the ICTY, and the Tribunal's appellate chamber will review it. This did not mean, in any way, that Croatia refused to be co- operative, Granic said and added that "Croatia is willing to provide a certain part of the documentation it possesses, but which does not encroach on the vital part of the national security." Concluding the part of his speech referring to the cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal, Granic said that this main reason for the pressure exerted by the international community was, in fact, extradition of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Croat war crimes suspects, in particular, of Dario Kordic. "It is well known what Croatia has done so far concerning this issue," Granic said and mentioned Tihomir Blaskic's voluntary appearance before the Hague Tribunal, the extradition of Zlatko Aleksovski, as well as President Franjo Tudjman's statement that Croatia was ready to use its influence so that Bosnian Croat war crimes suspects appear before the ICTY. But the international community's demands had to be realistic, as Croatian authorities could not be responsible for areas outside their jurisdiction, Granic said. Croatia firmly abides by the full implementation of the Washington and Dayton accords with no revision of the peace agreement and the Federation's constitutional principles which would be especially to the detriment of Bosnian Croats. In the final part of his speech, Granic said that the international community would like to form out of Croatia a useful lever for the settlement of the regional crisis. "We accept our international responsibilities," he said and added that any attempt of pressure, which would be outside standards of EuroAtlantic integration processes and necessary agreement in line with obligations under the Dayton deal, and outside the basic relations with neighbouring countries, was out of question. He announced intensive dialogue between Croatian senior political officials and the international community's representatives, and anticipated that Croatia would resume relations of partnership, particularly with the United States, through this dialogue. (hina) mm mš 291522 MET jul 97