ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT OF THE CROATIAN SOCIAL LIBERAL PARTY

ZAGREB, Nov 6 (Hina) - Following inaugural addresses delivered by guests from the country and abroad, the fourth convention of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) was addressed by the party's leader, Drazen Budisa. Budisa said, among other things, that the HSLS had never disproved the legitimacy of the ruling party, but that several times it cautioned about politically detrimental and dangerous instances of denying the national legitimacy to opposition parties in Croatia. He stressed that the most serious problem was the status quo in the Croatian occupied territories and several hundred thousand refugees and displaced persons. The president of the HSLS said that the war in Croatia and the reintegration of the occupied territories into its legal system were inseparately related to the events in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Describing the suffering of the Croats in central Bosnia as "a great tragedy of the Croatian people," Budisa said that when speaking of the issue one must ask "who was forcing out the Moslems from Livno, Ljubuski, Stolac and Capljina," and "is there a single mosque left in Herzeg-Bosnia." Budisa said that he did not underestimate the strategic importance of Herzeg-Bosnia for southern Croatia, and noted that it was much more important to preserve Bosnia-Herzegovina as a state between Serbia and Croatia. "We think that the priority task of the Croatian foreign policy is to preserve Bosnia-Herzegovina at least as a union and urgently put a stop to the conflict between the Croats and Moslems," said Budisa. (END) m-vm 062011 MET nov 93