COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISCUSSES SITUATION IN CROATIA ( Editorial: --> 8476 )

( Editorial: --> 8476 ) STRASBOURG, Nov 5 (Hina) - The Council of Europe's committee for supervising member countries' compliance with commitments on Wednesday discussed the situation in Croatia in the light of an oral report by rapporteur Gunnar Janson, submitted after a visit to Croatia this October. Present at the meeting were also Croatian Parliament deputy speaker and head of the Croatian delegation at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, Zarko Domljan, and a delegation member, Count Jakob Eltz Vukovarski. A year after its admittance into the Council of Europe, Croatia had achieved progress in many fields, but there was still certain criticism, Domljan and Janson said after the meeting which was held behind closed doors. "We have fully fulfilled our obligations of one-year time-limit towards the Council of Europe ," Domljan said, adding that he had informed members of the Committee that Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic had on Wednesday submitted to the Council of Europe Secretary-General, Daniel Tarschys, ratification instruments which confirmed that the Croatian Parliament had ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Charter on Regional and Minority Languages. Improvements had been achieved during this year in Croatia, Janson said, adding that Croatia had formally acted completely in line with Council of Europe requests. Speaking about problems a Council of Europe delegation had established during their visit to Croatia, Janson said that they were a mixture of political and legislative problems. First of all, it was not certain what would happen in the Croatian Danube river region after 15 January 1998, that is, after the completion of the UNTAES mandate, Janson said, stressing the great importance of the Croatian government Trust Establishment Programme. According to Janson, despite improvements and nominations of new persons, there was still the problem of the freedom of the media, and in legislature, the issue of the Law on ownership of temporary taken over property. President of the Committee, Guido de Marko, spoke on behalf of Croatia, stressing that this country, which had exited from a war, was fighting with all means for the establishment of a democratic society and legal state, Domljan said. Janson stressed that he would do everything so that the written report on Croatia could be completed as soon as possible and submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly, which would close the monitoring over Croatia. (hina) lm 052121 MET nov 97