MOSTAR, March 1 (Hina) - The European Union Administrator of Mostar, Hans Koschnik, told a press conference in Mostar today that he would stay in Mostar another four weeks, until end March, when the EU. Ministerial Council would
decide on the new European Administrator of Mostar. It was still unknown from which country the new administrator would be, Koschnik added.
MOSTAR, March 1 (Hina) - The European Union Administrator of
Mostar, Hans Koschnik, told a press conference in Mostar today that
he would stay in Mostar another four weeks, until end March, when
the EU. Ministerial Council would decide on the new European
Administrator of Mostar. It was still unknown from which country
the new administrator would be, Koschnik added. #L#
The Croat and Bosniac sides had reached compromise regarding
the City of Mostar, Koschnik said, adding that his decision would
probably have been different, had the compromise been reached
earlier.
Speaking about why he had offered his resignation to the EU
Presidency, Koschnik said that the political aim of his function
had been fulfilled - freedom of movement and joint police units had
been established and a document on elections in Mostar had been
adopted.
The new administrator of Mostar would need more than six
months of the extended EU Administration mandate for the
transformation of two Mostar administrations into one and for the
establishment of six new municipalities. He would need at least
nine months, Koschnik said adding that was why he himself was
withdrawing three months earlier.
Asked whether his associates would withdraw as well, Koschnik
said that everyone would be able to decide for themselves, adding
that 'some of them have asked to return home'.
He explained that his associates had signed contracts with the
governments of their countries on their service in Mostar until the
end of July this year and that they would contact their governments
in case of their earlier departure.
Before he left Mostar, he would make public the costs of the
EU Administration during his office in Mostar, Koschnik said.
Koschnik said he had not give in to blackmails, adding :'At
the beginning of the mandate, I knew that a terrorist group could
kill me but I did not leave; in 1994 the EU Administration
building, that is, my room, had been hit with a tank shell and I
did not leave; I did not leave when the Serbs were shelling the
city either'.
Asked about the construction of new facilities in central
Mostar as well as of a Catholic church, Koschnik said that the
construction of those facilities had been included in the town plan
for the period 1989-1991, that is, before the Municipal Statute
took effect.
(hina) rm
011401 MET mar 96