CROATIA WILL FULFIL ALL COUNCIL OF EUROPE REQUIREMENTS -GRANIC

WASHINGTON, May 16 (Hina) - Croatia's Foreign Minister Mate Granic said on Thursday that his country would fulfil all commitments it had assumed in negotiations for admission to the Council of Europe. "We will fulfil all commitments within a certain period of time," Granic told a press conference in Washington on the last day of his visit to the United States. Earlier in the week, the Council of Europe had decided to delay Croatia's accession to its full membership. Commenting on the Council's objections to Croatia, Granic said that all measures taken to resolve the local government crisis in Zagreb had been in line with the Constitution and law. "We will try to solve the problems through changes to the law and new elections that will follow immediately after that. The most important thing is to separate the responsibilities of the mayor, the county prefect and the city council. (...) We will accept the results of the next elections," he said. Speaking of the media in Croatia, Granic said that journalists were completely free. "The government has some influence on television while radio and the press are independent," Granic said. In response to a question on cooperation with the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Granic said that on the territory of Croatia there was not a single person who had been indicted for war crimes. Earlier on Thursday, Granic had met US Defence Secretary William Perry and Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbot for talks on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the peaceful reintegration of the Serb-occupied area of eastern Croatia and Croatia's admission into political, economic and security integrations in Europe. (hina) vm jn 161934 MET may 96