TREATIES
$
ZAGREB, Sept 17 (Hina) - On Wednesday the House of
Representatives ended discussions on a dozen final bills on
ratification of international conventions, agreements or
bilateral agreements.
During debates most of attention was devoted to a bill on
ratification of a Croatian-Italian agreement on minorities
rights.
Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic said that this
agreement enabled about 63,000 Italian Croats to get the status
of a national minority for the first time. He added that the
agreement was important to Croatian-Italian relations that were
on ascending lines in politics and economy, and to the "rating"
of Croatia in the Council of Europe.
On behalf of the legislation committee, Vice Vukojevic,
said that the agreement had many unclear or not precise parts
which open possibilities of its different interpretations.
He described as unacceptable a provision under which there
was virtually no Croatia-Slovenian border for members of the
Italian minority who live in Croatia and Slovenia.
He stressed that out of nine articles of the
agreement, seven regulated rights of Croatian Italians, whereas
only one article referred to the rights of the Croatian minority
in Italy. Furthermore, that article regulated Croatian minority
rights superficially and vaguely, according to Vukojevic.
The stand of this committee was supported by some
deputies at the discussion.
On behalf of the Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS
party), Ivan Jakovcic, said he was unpleasantly surprised by the
stand of legislation committee members, and added that the treaty
would, over the long term, positively influence the development
of Istria and good relations between Croatia and Italy.
At the end of the debate Granic described the
agreement as a good deal between Croatia and Italy.
According to Granic, there is a model of reciprocity which
Croatia has achieved with Hungary, whereas in the agreement with
Italy it could not be the case as the Italian minority is far
better organised than Croats in Italy, who only be organised as a
minority in Molise. It is up to Italian Croats to try to be
better organised, and this agreement grants them all minorities
rights.
A discussion ended also on a final bill on ratifying
an agreement between Croatia and Germany on the reception of
returning refugees. Granic said there had been no problem in
preparations of the agreement and told the parliament that
Germany was still offering accommodation to two between three
thousand Croatian refugees from the Danube area.
The minister said that it was in the interest of
Croatia that those refugees might come back very soon.
(hina) jn mš
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