VON HABSBURG: CROATIA IS A GUARANTEE OF PEACE IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE

EUROPE $ ZAGREB, 29 Oct (Hina) - The Croatian Pan-European Union on Tuesday issued a statement on the speech a European Parliament member Otto von Habsburg delivered at last week's session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Von Habsburg commented on certain criticisms directed against Croatia. #L# 'Croatia has achieved a lot in issues concerning law, security and state organization. These achievements are actually a miracle, if we consider the fact that Croatia is a country which gained its independence by itself and which has to preserve that independence', von Habsburg said. 'Instead of lecturing and criticizing Croatia for minor faults, which it has, as the majority of European states, the European Union had better provide active assistance. Who wants to promote peace, democracy and human rights, has to show Croatia the way to the European Union, and not shut it out. Without the establishment of internal stability in Croatia, there can be no peace in South-Eastern Europe', von Habsburg said. 'If we inspect the human rights situation in Croatia through a magnifying glass, we also have to take into consideration the Serbs' inhuman, barbaric destruction in Krajina and eastern Slavonia', von Habsburg said. (hina) rm jn 291700 MET oct 96