A BRIEF LOOK AT CROATIAN PRESS ON THURSDAY

ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - "Croatia Demands the Implementation of the Agreement" is the headline of VJESNIKs front page article on a meeting yesterday between Croatian Government chief negotiator Sarinic, UNPA Serb representative Borislav Mikelic, and international mediators, Lord David Owen and Thorvald Stoltenberg. The talks ended without any official statements being released and are expected to resume on January 11, the daily says. Vjesnik carries a front page picture story on President Tudjman's New Year reception for Croatian county prefects. After wishing the county prefects a happy new year, President Tudjman held a session with them on the implementation of State policy which was outlined in his address to Parliament. Commenting on Yugoslav Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic's protest letter to UN Secretary-General, accusing Croatia of violating rights of the Serb Orthodox Church, Vjesnik journalist V. Tadic says the letter consisted of slander, insinuation and dirge. In a piece on the UN Protection Force's tasks in Croatia in 1994, the daily's commentator A. Milosevic, says UN peace keepers have not fulfilled their chief tasks, which included the deployment of 'blue hamlets' on the border between Croatia and Serbia as well as Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to ensure the return of the Croatian displaced people to their homes. In another comment piece headlined 'Read Chechenya', S. Martinovic, warns of the consequences of developments in Russia for Croatia. "A Step Forward in Negotiations" is the headline of VECERNJI LIST's article on talks between the Croatian Government and rebel Serbs in the UNPROFOR base at the Zagreb Airport. Commentator M. Galic asks in his article if the latest four- month truce in Bosnia can deliver anything new after all the futile cease-fire agreements. Referring to statements that a ministry for return of the Croatian emigrants be established, the daily says there have only talks about Croatia's efforts to return its Diaspora to the homeland for four years. It was high time that the present approach to this issue be changed and that a State programme on the return be developed. (hina) jn mms sd 051231 MET jan 95