VJESNIK COMMENT PIECE: REFRESHING THE MINISTERS' MEMORY

ZAGREB, Feb 2 (Hina) - Following this week's meeting of EU foreign ministers, which discussed the recognition of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, today's VJESNIK runs a comment piece by Gordana Grgas, which echoes First Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic's views on the subject. The piece is headlined "Refreshing the Ministers' Memory". "We have nothing against Yugoslavia joining European integration processes and European security structures," Simonovic said. "But Yugoslavia must meet certain conditions to qualify for that. As far as Croatia is concerned, that condition is mutual recognition," he said. "Also, the European Union should make it clear what this recognition exactly means - is it the recognition of a new state or the continuation of the old - because this is linked to the succession issue." "Before the meeting, our ambassadors warned the EU ministers that it was precisely the European Union that had established the Badinter Commission, which found that Yugoslavia had disintegrated and that its successors were the states that emerged from it," Simonovic said, quoted by Grgas. (hina) jn as 011231 MET feb 96