E.U. SPECIAL ENVOY SAYS SITUATION IN MOSTAR VERY SERIOUS

MOSTAR, July 26 (Hina) - EU special envoy Sir Martin Garrod on Friday described the situation in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar as very serious and said that a deadline for negotiations had been extended until August 3. If an agreement was reached, the EU administration would be succeeded by the Joint Action whose mandate would last until December 31. If no agreement was reached, the EU administration would leave and only some of its personnel would stay to complete projects already under way, Garrod told a news conference. Speaking of his talks in Zagreb and Sarajevo, Garrod said he had received support from all officials for conditions under which the EU would continue its presence in Mostar but problems had arisen in Mostar where the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party rejected the municipal election results and refused to participate in forming a city council. The EU position was that the city council should be established on the basis of the existing election results until the Supreme Court settled a suit filed by the HDZ over election irregularities, he said. Garrod expressed hope that an agreement would be reached by August 3, otherwise there would be a very serious vacuum which would be advantageous only to criminals and gangsters while for all others it would be a disaster. Garrod said he believed that new elections should be held if the Supreme Court favourably assessed the HDZ lawsuit. Asked to comment on an announcement by the EU in a presidential declaration that it would reconsider its future attitude towards the Croat side, Garrod said he did not want to predjudge possible measures the EU may take against Zagreb unless no agreement was reached by the August 3 deadline. Garrod could not confirm a report that US diplomat Richard Holbrooke would travel to Sarajevo and Zagreb because of the situation in Mostar. However, he said that Americans were very concerned about the situation in the town. (hina) vm 261913 MET jul 96