ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - Croatia and Germany intended to strengthen and extend their relations and cooperation in all fields, representatives of the Croatian parliament and the German Bundestag said in Zagreb on Monday.
ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - Croatia and Germany intended to
strengthen and extend their relations and cooperation in all
fields, representatives of the Croatian parliament and the German
Bundestag said in Zagreb on Monday. #L#
A German delegation, led by Catholic-Social Union
representative Hartmut Koschyk, arrived in Zagreb on Sunday for a
three-day visit. Other members of the delegation were Social-
Democratic Party representative Georg Pfannenstein and Liberal
Party representative Ulrich Irmer.
Croatian Parliament's President Vlatko Pavletic received the
German delegation on Monday morning. After that, the delegation
held talks with members of the House of Representatives' Foreign
Affairs Committee and the Inter parliamentary Cooperation
Committee, led by their presidents Zarko Domljan and Zdravka Busic
respectively.
The German and Croatian parliamentarians pointed out the
friendship and cooperation between the two countries, adding that
the political, economic and cultural relations should be
intensified in the future.
Domljan pointed out the intention of the Croatian Parliament
to "institutionalize relations between the two parliaments", which
this visit should encourage.
Koschyk said he was pleased that Croatia had been admitted to
the Council of Europe, adding that this made Croatia liable to
fulfill its obligations. He stressed the issue of human rights.
Speaking about the cooperation between the two countries,
Koschyk said he was surprised that the invitation of German Foreign
Minister Klaus Kinkel for representatives of the Croatian
opposition to visit Bonn had been interpreted as an attack on
Croatian authority and therefore cancelled. He said that it had
been a usual procedure on Germany's part.
Discussing the freedom of the media in Croatia, both the
representatives of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party
and representatives of the opposition agreed that there was freedom
of the printed word. However, HDZ had a monopoly over electronic
media, television especially, opposition representatives Ivan
Jakovcic and Bozo Kovacevic said. Domljan said that there was
"absolute freedom of print" in Croatia, but added that some
journalists abused it.
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