VUKOVAR, 2 July (Hina) - An agreement on allocation of apartments in the Croatian Danube river region, which regulates the allocation of reconstructed apartments to former owners and tenants who are Croatian citizens, was initialled
in Vukovar on Wednesday. The agreement will be signed by the representatives of the Croatian government and U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia (UNTAES) in Zagreb Thursday. An agreement on customs in the Danube river region was still being adjusted and it should be signed in the following days, Croatian Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic stated Wednesday.
VUKOVAR, 2 July (Hina) - An agreement on allocation of apartments in the
Croatian Danube river region, which regulates the allocation of
reconstructed apartments to former owners and tenants who are Croatian
citizens, was initialled in Vukovar on Wednesday.
The agreement will be signed by the representatives of the Croatian
government and U.N. Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia
(UNTAES) in Zagreb Thursday.
An agreement on customs in the Danube river region was still being
adjusted and it should be signed in the following days, Croatian
Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic stated Wednesday. #L#
After a meeting with U.N. Transitional Administrator Jacques Paul
Klein, Vukovar County Prefect Rudolf Koenig and mayors and municipal
heads of towns and municipalities from the U.N.-administered areas, held
behind closed doors in Vukovar, Radic said that a commission would be
set up in line with the agreement on the allocation of apartments.
The commission would allocate flats to their former owners and
tenants who are Croatian citizens, he said.
Apartments which are left unoccupied will be taken over by their
real owners, that is, companies and institutions which owned them before
the war, who will then allocate those apartments to their future
employees. The commission will include representatives of the Croatian
government, local authorities and UNTAES, Radic said.
Speaking about the customs agreement, Radic said that parts which
were still disputable included customs points, which still 'do not meet
technical requirements for transport of goods.'
Talks on a list of goods which would be temporarily imported from
Yugoslavia until Croatian shops were opened in the region were still
under way, he added.
Speaking about his meeting with mayors and municipal heads from the
Danube river region, Radic said that problems existed in re-starting
the work of local administration and return of refugees. Asked to
comment on estimations that the course of reintegration was running too
slowly, Radic said that it was so because 'transitional administration
is still in the region, and not Croatian authority in the full sense of
the word. Once Croatian authority is established, there will be no
problems,' Radic said.
The return of displaced people to Ilok could start next week, he
said.
UNTAES has done all it could, it is now up to local authorities to
start doing their job. They are no longer mayors in exile, they have to
live and work here, Gen. Klein said after the meeting.
There is no doubt that the UNTAES mandate will be extended, he
said, adding that in the following next months UNTAES would help and
encourage local authorities in taking over their duties.
A Parliamentary representative and president of the Serb Democratic
Independent Party (SDSS), Vojislav Stanimirovic, supported the
acceleration of establishment of newly-elected authorities in the
Croatian Danube river region.
(hina) rm
021656 MET jul 97