BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 5608

BELGIUM SEEKS GREATER EFFORT FROM CROATIA IN CAPTURING FUGITIVE GENERAL

We need greater efforts and, if possible, results so that we can have a better atmosphere in the EU before the decision, Verhofstadt told reporters after talks with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic in Brussels.

The Belgian prime minister said that all Balkan countries should become EU members in the future and that it was therefore important for the accession talks with Croatia to start on March 17 as planned.

Mesic said that Croatia was fully cooperating with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, and confirmed that a letter had been sent today to the tribunal and EU leaders describing what Croatia had done so far in its cooperation with the tribunal.

Mesic said on Tuesday that attached to the letter were hundreds of documents important for identifying the possible whereabouts and movements of the runaway general.

BORRELL SAYS SUPPORTS START OF CROATIA'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH EU ON MARCH 17

Borell Fontelles said Croatia's negotiations would be one of the topics of Thursday's conference of the presidents of the benches in the European Parliament. He added that he would inform the officials in the European Parliament of information he received from Mesic referring to Croatia's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Reiterating that Croatia is fully cooperating with the ICTY, Mesic proposed that the negotiations be launched according to the schedule.

"I suggest that we open the negotiations, and institutions should do their job," said Mesic and added that an unnecessary campaign about General Ante Gotovina was created in the media, notably the European media.

"Five Croatian generals, who had a more important role in Croatia's defence than Gotovina, surrendered to the tribunal voluntarily. I see no reason why we would protect one person. The only answer is that Gotovina is not in Croatia," Mesic said.

MESIC ENDS HIS VISIT TO BRUSSELS

President Mesic and the Croatian Government know what the situation is like, Solana said and voiced confidence a solution would be found. He, however, was not specific what he was referring to. Solana said that his talks with Mesic focused on the start of Croatia's negotiations with the European Union.

"We know what must be done and we will do that easier if others know what needs to be done," Mesic said.

During his stay in Brussels, President Mesic held talks with King Albert II of Belgium, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Josep Borrell Fontelless, EU High Representative for the

Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

SANADER HOLDS TALKS WITH GREEK PM

Greece has been supporting Croatia in its bid to enter the EU since the very start. But it is always important to cooperate with international courts as this is a condition of international law, and cooperation must be rewarded, Karamanlis said in Zagreb.

Sanader added that he informed his Greek counterpart of Croatia's ambitions to receive the European Union's positive response to the start of Croatia's accession talks on 17 March, as well as about all what the country had done so far to begin the membership talks.

"I expect that the interpretation that Croatia's full cooperation with the ICTY means that Croatia is doing its utmost to solve the last remaining outstanding case in relations with the Hague-based tribunal will prevail in the European Union," Sanader said alluding to the case of the runaway general Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the tribunal.

Karamanlis said that he purposely selected Zagreb as the first stop in this tour of southeastern European countries.

I have chosen Zagreb from the obvious reason: the promotion of European prospects in the southeastern region is a Greek strategic interest," said Karamanlis.

Croatia is currently the leading country in Southeast Europe when in comes to EuroAtlantic integration processes, the Greek PM said.

The two officials also discussed the situation in the region and bilateral relations.

Sanader and Karamanlis highlighted excellent political relations between Croatia and Greece, expressing hope that they would pave the way to an improvement of economic cooperation between the two countries.

After Zagreb, Karamanlis will travel to Belgrade to meet Serbian President Boris Tadic and Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. On Thursday, the Greek PM will meet his Serbian counterpart, Vojislav Kostunica, and the President of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic. He will then proceed to Pristina.

PM SAYS POSTPONEMENT OF CROATIA'S EU ENTRY TALKS WOULD STRENGTHEN ANTI-EUROPEAN FORCES

A negative scenario would strengthen anti-European forces and radicalism in Croatia, the PM said after talks with the leaders of parliamentary parties, and added Croatia must take the path of reforms. He said the path his cabinet was taking had no alternative.

Sander said this answering a question about a joint letter which he together with President Stjepan Mesic and Parliament Speaker Vladimir Seks forwarded to European partners earlier today.

The letter includes Croatia's assessments of a positive and a negative scenario regarding the date of the start of the country's negotiations with the European Union, Sanader said. Also enclosed is the summary of a report forwarded to the ICTY Prosecutor's Office. The report, Sanader said, states steps Croatia took in the last month or two in order to solve the last open issue in cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague.

The PM said that in talks he held so far and those held in the last two days with seven or eight prime ministers, he promoted the interpretation that Croatia's full cooperation with the ICTY meant that the country was doing all that it could to solve the last open issue, namely the issue of general Gotovina.

The case must be solved and the solving of Gotovina's case will remain Croatia's obligation even if the negotiations start on 17 March, the prime minister said.

Sanader said he was a down-to-earth person but maintained a positive attitude about the date for the start of the negotiations. He added, however, that the situation was not easy.

The prime minister hailed the latest statements by European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

AGREEMENT REACHED ON MEMBERS OF NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR SUPERVISION OF CROATIA'S EU ENTRY TALKS

The committee will be formally established next Wednesday.

The representatives of the parliamentary majority are Luka Bebic, Nevenka Majdenic, Mario Zubovic, Emil Tomljanovic, Ivan Cehok and Vladimir Jordan.

The parliamentary opposition will be represented by Ivica Racan, Ljubo Jurcic, Anto Djapic, Zlatko Tomcic and Ivan Jakovcic.

The opposition People's Party (HNS) is expected to nominate its representative today or tomorrow, Sanader told reporters after the meeting.

The committee's chairman will be Racan and vice-chairman Bebic.

The representatives of the employers and trade unions, Darko Marinac and Vesna Dejanovic respectively, have been nominated to the committee earlier. It has also been known for some time that the tertiary education institutions will be represented by the head of the Zagreb University, Helena Jasna Mencer, and that the representative of the Office of Croatian President will be Davor Bozinovic.

According to their posts, the chairmen of the parliamentary foreign affairs, European integration and inter-parliamentary cooperation committees, Gordan Jandrokovic, Neven Mimica and Milorad Pupovac respectively will be on the committee, too.

JOINT CROATIAN-EU PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE TO MEET IN ZAGREB THIS WEEK

The joint committee, representing a new form of cooperation between the Croatian Parliament and the European Parliament, was established in accordance with a decision of the European Parliament of March 2004, which appointed members of a special delegation for relations with Croatia, and a decision of the Croatian Parliament of October 2004.

This will be the first direct meeting of representatives of the two legislatures, who have so far cooperated through the Committee for Southeast Europe.

Twelve representatives of the most important political groups in the European Parliament will arrive in Zagreb, along with the Austrian Johannes Swoboda, European Parliament rapporteur for Croatia, Georges Santer, representative of the chairman of the EU Council of Ministers, and David Daly, chief operations officer for accession talks with Croatia who will represent the European Commission.

The two sessions of the joint committee will be chaired by the head of the Croatian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Gordan Jandrokovic, and the Hungarian Pal Schmitt, a People's Party member of the European Parliament.

The sessions will be attended by the State Secretary at the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Hido Biscevic, and chief Croatian negotiator Vladimir Drobnjak, and the participants will be addressed by Croatian Parliament President Vladimir Seks.

The joint committee is expected to adopt a joint declaration and recommendations, assessing the political and economic situation in Croatia and to what extent Croatia met the special political criteria for membership, including cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, judicial reform, refugee return, minority rights protection, and the reform of media legislation.

The European members of the joint committee held a preparatory meeting last week, with most of them advocating that the membership talks with Croatia should start on March 17 and that Croatia was meeting all the requirements, including the one relating to cooperation with the Hague tribunal, diplomatic sources told Hina.

The Croatian Parliament expects the two-day meeting to close with the adoption of a statement expressing support for the opening of entry talks on March 17, Jandrokovic said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The European parliamentarians are also expected to meet President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

DELAY OF EU ENTRY TALKS WOULD HARM CROATIAN WORKERS, SAYS TRADE UNION ALLIANCE

The SSSH is a full member of the European Trade Union Confederation and its president, Vesna Dejanovic, participates in the work of the Croatian Parliament's National Committee for the Supervision of the Talks with the EU, because Croatia will not be able to enter the bloc without an effective dialogue between the government and social partners, Klaus said.

LESS THAN ONE THIRD OF CITIZENS BELIEVE THAT EU MEMBERSHIP WOULD BE GOOD FOR CROATIA -- POLL

Within the frameworks of the standardised opinion poll Eurobarometer, issued twice a year by the European Commission's directorate general for the press, the Plus agency conducted a poll on 1,000 people in Croatia last November.

The survey was conducted in the same time in all 25 EU member states and four EU candidate countries.

Asked whether Croatia's membership of the EU would be a good thing, 30 percent of the respondents answered in the positive, 24 percent thought otherwise, 41 percent believed EU membership would neither be good nor bad, while four percent of the respondents said they did not know.

In 25 EU member states, 56 percent of the respondents believe EU membership is good for their country and 13 percent think it is bad.

Thirty-eight percent believe that joining the EU would be to Croatia's benefit and 49 percent of the respondents have the opposite opinion.

POLICE INVESTIGATING ALLEGATIONS THAT GOTOVINA VISITED REV.SUDAC

"We received a request from the Prosecutor's Office to investigate allegations from the press and the investigation is under way," spokesman for the Interior Ministry Zlatko Mehun told Hina. Asked whether police would talk to the priest of the Krk Diocese, Mehun did not give a precise answer.

"Following an order from the Prosecutor's Office, police are investigating claims from the press and for now I cannot speak about the activities the police are taking," Mehun said and added the Interior Ministry would inform the State Prosecutor's Office of the results of the investigation.

In the article headlined "Gotovina visited rev. Gotovina", Novi List daily reported that the priest told Nova TV on Tuesday evening that Gotovina stayed for six days in the spiritual headquarters in Betanija two years ago and attended spiritual exercises.

PARL. WORKING GROUP QUESTIONS FOUR REPORTERS AND EX-POLICE CHIEF

The working group today heard former Croatian police chief Ranko Ostojic, who was also monitored by the POA according to media reports.

After the two-hour interview, Ostojic told reporters the Interior Minister (Marijan Mlinaric) exempted him from keeping official secrets and during today's interview he had presented information which should absolve him from what he called monstrous accusations made by a former POA head, Franjo Turek.

"Before this, I could not openly speak (about the matter), and now when I am exempted from the obligation of keeping secrets, I am finally able to deny allegations from Turek's famous presentation," Ostojic said.

He also refuted media speculation that he would become an advisor to Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.

Asked whether he would lodge a defamation suit against POA, Ostojic said that his goal was not to sue but to discontinue such a practice in the work of POA, explaining that it was not difficult to imagine what secret services could do to ordinary citizens after what they did to him,

Two interviewed reporters Zeljko Peratovic and Mario Kavain, announced their suits against POA.

Another reporter Ivica Djikic said he would be satisfied with an apology from that intelligence agency.

Those three reporters described today's talks with the parliamentary working group as fair, adding that they believed that the Committee could shed the light on the entire scandal.

The fourth reporter, Ivanka Toma, who was also today questioned, enclosed her own written explanation in which she stressed she did not want the entire case to be used in political purposes.

"According to statements given by working group members so far, it seems that our requests are going to be used for their political goals. I am not interested in their relations with the Hague-based UN tribunal or with former government. I am only interested in seeing whether POA was dealing with reporters, for which it had no grounds or rights," she said.

PARL. CREDENTIALS COMMISSION FOR STRIPPING FOUR MPS OF IMMUNITY

The Commission explained that in the case of Frane Piplovic of the Democratic Centre (DC), Ante Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) and two Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MPs, Ivica Klem and Zeljko Nenadic, it was courts which asked the lifting the four MPs' immunity from criminal prosecution.

The request for stripping Lalic of immunity was turned down as she was a subject of a private defamation lawsuit, and the commission has so far only recommended lifting of immunity when competent authorities such as courts asked for it.

Ivica Klem and Zeljko Nenadic are suspected of having committed white-collar crime.

Frane Piplovic is accused by the local prosecutor's office of having violating labour law.

Anto Djapic is suspected of having falsified his master's thesis.

HSP DISSATISFIED WITH FOOT-DRAGGING ABOUT FORMING NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR EU ENTRY TALKS

Speaking at a press conference in Zagreb, Djapic also expressed his dissatisfaction with Croatia's EU membership strategy, saying that the government "has put all of its eggs in one basket" by focusing all its efforts on tracking down General Ante Gotovina, who is wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

"If Gotovina is not found, the government seems to have reconciled itself to the fact that the EU entry talks will not start," Djapic said, adding that the government should instead take cooperation with the Hague tribunal from the political back to the legal level.

He criticised the government for allowing the issue of cooperation with the Hague tribunal to be reduced to the arrest and transfer of the fugitive general.

"The government must now pray to God for Gotovina to show up and must also curry favour with (Chief Prosecutor) Carla del Ponte, who has usurped the powers of the Hague tribunal and put together indictments against Croatia based on forged documents," the HSP leader said.

Commenting on the formation of a Croatian Serb government in exile last Saturday, Djapic said that the Croatian Foreign Ministry should send a protest note to Belgrade.

PARLIAMENTARY FORUM OF ADRIATIC-IONIAN INITIATIVE HELD IN MONTENEGRO

Representatives of parliamentary committees on economic affairs from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia discussed incentives for the development of tourism in the region, concluding that the Adriatic and Ionian sea basins offered inexhaustible possibilities for the development of tourism and stressing the importance of the road infrastructure, Montenegrin media reported on Wednesday.

The Croatian representative, Dragutin Pukles, told the parliamentary forum that the Croatian government devoted great attention to the development of tourism and particularly to environmental protection. "The environment is a very important factor in all activities that will be undertaken in the region in the future," he said.

The Montenegrin representative, Zarija Franovic, said that the construction of the Adriatic-Ionian Highway was of exceptional importance to Montenegro. "This road will contribute to the promotion of tourism in Montenegro," he said.

The representative of the Southeast Europe Stability Pact, Petra Blas, said she was pleased with the conclusions of the meeting. She said that the economic prosperity of the region would be based on investment in tourism and the road infrastructure, and added that the forum indicated very successful cooperation between the parliaments and the Pact.

In a joint declaration, the forum welcomed the initiative of the Italian parliament, which offered its experience in developing a legislative environment in order to encourage the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in all the countries of the region.

DRASKOVIC: FOUNDING SESSION OF 'RSK' PARL. WAS HELD BY HANDFUL OF PEOPLE OF MINOR IMPORTANCE

"This was organised by groups that do not understand that the past cannot and will not recur, but I believe that there is the sufficient number of wise people in Serbia who realise that Europe is our only path," Minister Draskovic told radio B92 radio commenting on last Saturday's founding assembly in Belgrade of the parliament of the so-called RSK, the unrecognised statelet which was established by Serb rebels in Croatia in the early 1990s.

SERBIAN PRESIDENT AGAINST FORMING OF KRAJINA GOVERNMENT IN EXILE

"Serbia should not destabilise its neighbouring countries, which have been internationally recognised by the United Nations, because it would once again be characterised as a factor of destabilisation," President Tadic was cited by Radio Television Serbia on Wednesday evening as telling this to Tanjug news agency.

Tadic said last Saturday's event was also very detrimental to Serbia's interests where those interest were threatened the most -- in Kosovo.

"This is also dangerous for the protection of interests of Croatian Serbs living in not so easy circumstances - the Serbs for whose living standards we must fight," Tadic said and added that as Serbia's president he was doing so each day in contacts with his Croatian colleagues.

SERBS CONVICTED IN CROATIA TRANSFERRED TO SERBIA

The head of the Serbian Justice Ministry department for the execution of prison sentences, Dragoljub Loncarevic, told the Belgrade-based Beta news agency that the prisoners in Sremska Mitrovica would have "the usual treatment" and that they would spend the first 30 days in the prison's reception division. He added that their further treatment would depend on decisions of prison services.

Serbia and Montenegro Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic and Interior Ministry representatives took custody of the prisoners at the Bratovci border crossing with Croatia. The prisoners were taken to the Sremska Mitrovica penitentiary.

Four prisoners were sentenced in Croatia for war crimes while the fifth was jailed for "classic criminal activities".

SOME 50 MILLION EUROS TO BE ALLOCATED FOR RETURN OF REFUGEES IN 2005

Kebo told reporters that there was full consent that efforts and funds should be invested in creating conditions for sustainable return and permanent stay of returnees when they came back to their pre-war homes.

The funds totalling about 50 million euros for this purpose will be ensured by Bosnian authorities and international organisations, including the European Commission, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the Dutch government.

Special attention will be directed this year to areas where little progress has been so far in the return of refugees, such as eastern Bosnia, eastern Herzegovina, Posavina and the area of Livno in western Bosnia, Kebo told reporters.

According to figures released by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in January 1996, about 1,600,000 refugees and displaced persons have returned to their pre-war homes in Bosnia.

Approximately 400,000 Bosnians are still living outside their country.

Of the aforementioned number of returnees, over 440,000 returned from abroad, while some 565,000 are returnees who were displaced inside the country during the war.

The number of Bosniak (Bosnian Mulslim) returnees from aboard came to almost 280,000.

Nearly 85,000 Croats returned from abroad, and the number of Serb returnees from other countries is about 72,000.

STATE PROSECUTION ISSUES INDICTMENT AGAINST CROAT MEMBER OF BOSNIAN PRESIDENCY AND ANOTHER 6 MEN

According to a press release which Hina received from John McNair, the head of the Prosecution's special department for the prevention of organised crime and corruption, the indictees are Covic, Tadic, four brothers from the Ivankovic-Lijanovic family, who are the owners of the said company, as well as Zdravko Lucic, all of them accused of white-collar crime and bribery.

The indictment alleges that in June 2000 when he was the Bosnian Federation's Finance Minister, Covic made such decisions which enabled the Lijanovic company to evade paying special tariffs on the import of food products.

The indictment also reads that Covic, the Lijanovic brothers and Lucic bribed Tadic in 2003 when he was the Constitutional Court President.

The prosecution forwarded the 14-count indictment to the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina to confirm it.

After the State Prosecutor's Office reported that it had issued the indictment against Covic and another six persons, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo on Wednesday afternoon stated that it was expected of elected officials to step down from their posts in case they were suspected of criminal acts.

The OHR said that the issuing of the indictment is the start of a serious process.

It is now up to the court to decide whether it will confirm the indictment. In case of the confirmation of the indictment, Covic would no doubt consider what is in the best interest of his country and those who he is representing, the OHR said in a press release.

On Wednesday, the accused Covic did not want to comment on the indictment, adding only that he was proud of all that he had done so far and that he did not want to speculate about future events.

Mato Tadic resolutely refuted accusations about having taken bribes.

Jerko Ivankovic Lijanovic, one of the accused brothers, said he was not acquainted with the issuing of the indictment.

He added that he would not be surprised by such developments as the Lijanovic company and the political party the brothers founded had been under pressure of their political opponents and import lobbies for years.

MACEDONIAN PM VISITS KOSOVO

The issue requires dialogue between Skopje and Pristina and at the same time Belgrade must be informed of the talks, Petersen said at a joint news conference.

Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski said the talks on the frontier would be in line with the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 on Kosovo. He called on all parties to approach the issue with a constructive attitude. The Macedonian officials said that in line with the Resolution, both Belgrade and Kosovo institutions should take part in talks.

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