BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN NO. 6274

PRESIDENT MESIC ISSUES NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE

In order to accomplish those goals, Croatia must achieve higher rates of economic development than in 2006 and previous years, and draw closer to the EU average development rate and the economic growth rate of 7-8%, Mesic said.

"Those are realistic expectations for Croatia and its citizens in the new year. That is the best answer to the threat of poverty, to which Croatia has no right," he added.

The benefits of economic development should be enjoyed by all Croatian citizens, Mesic said, calling for a broad social consensus on the need for political, economic and social reforms to accomplish that goal as soon as possible.

The President also commented on parliamentary elections scheduled for November 2007.

"Our citizens will again have the opportunity to assume responsibility for their own future. By electing parties and their platforms, they will determine the course of our future development."

Commenting on the year 2006, Mesic said it was marked by successful negotiations on EU membership, adding that Croatia was much closer to NATO after the NATO summit in Riga, and that it had additionally strengthened its international position by intensifying cooperation with its neighbours and all countries in the region.

However, despite the continued process of democratisation and establishment of democratic institutions, Croatia still faces many challenges because state institutions are not determined enough in countering "the growing threat of corruption and organised crime, threats to the general security of citizens, and many other threats", Mesic said in the message.

SANADER SATISFIED WITH GOVERNMENT'S ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN 2006

This growth is based on the increased industrial output and overall economic activities, as well as on the growth in the financial market, Sanader told reporters in the Finance Ministry where he on Friday carried out the last transaction from this year's budget and held a news briefing on the economic performance of the government in 2006.

"If the budgetary deficit is three percent of GDP, which means that it has been lower than projected, if we successfully completed the stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund and did not extend it nor did we plan a new one, if our credit rating has been several times this year enhanced by four leading global agencies, then we definitely can be satisfied," Sanader said.

He also expressed satisfaction with the payment of two installments of the debt to pensioners without any major macroeconomic negative shifts and announced the service of the other two installments in 2007.

In 2007, the Sanader cabinet will continue with commitments to strengthen the economic growth, cut the budgetary deficit below three percent, enhance the country's export potential and reduce the unemployment.

In this context the premier recalled that 2006 saw the lowest unemployment rate of 11 percent in the last several years.

This means that there were less than 280,000 jobless Croatians, and Sanader pledged to continue with good trends in this field.

PREMIER AND FINMIN ANNOUNCE PRIVATISATION OF 20% OF HT SHARES IN 2007

Thanks to positive experiences from this year's public offering of shares from INA (oil company) when a large number of citizens was engaged in the privatisation, we expect the same with the HT, Sanader told reporters while visiting the Finance Ministry.

Finance Minister Ivan Suker explained that there were plans to list twenty percent of HT shares on the stock exchange market so as to enable the payment of the third and fourth installment of the debt to pensioners next year.

The government is going to make decisions on other cases of privatisation later, he explained adding that the government projected the budgetary deficit in 2007 at 2.8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

PM, MINISTRY DISMISS MEDIA REPORT ON RUSSIA'S RELUCTANCE TO INCREASE GAS SUPPLIES

The ministry assesses that the media report is yet another example of the unauthorised use of the official and confidential documentation and an example of distorted presentation of the topics and contents of the talks which Minister Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic held with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov.

The Jutarnji List daily on Friday reported that it could be concluded from official notes taken during the meeting between Grabar Kitarovic and Lavrov in Moscow in early November that the Russian side was reserved towards a possibility for increasing the quantity of gas to be delivered to Croatia as of 2009 after the Croatian government jettisoned plans for the Druzba Adria project amid a fierce campaign of local environmental associations against the project.

The daily said that this was about "linked trade", and quoting the notes from the meeting it added that "the approval of the Druzba Adria project would accelerate the solution of a series of other issues," alluding to Zagreb's request for larger supplies of gas to Croatia as of 2009 although Russia planned to increase the supplies as of 2012.

The Croatian ministry emphasises that there was nothing secret at the meeting and that the public was briefed of the contents of the Moscow talks.

The ministry's press release adds that during their meeting the two ministers discussed bilateral cooperation in the power sector, too.

The Russian side expressed interest in seeing Croatia as well as the entire southeastern Europe being more strongly engaged in trans-European power projects and in this context there was some talk about the Druzba Adria project as well as about the project on trans- European oil pipeline from the Romanian seaport of Constanta, via Croatia's Omisalj on the island of Krk to Trieste in Italy, the Croatian ministry said in the press release.

Minister Grabar-Kitarovic informed her Russian counterpart about an initiative that the two projects can be considered against a backdrop of possible connection of the Croatian oil pipeline system with Slovenia and Italy so as to ensure the transport of the oil as well as the protection of the Adriatic, reads the press release.

The ministry went on to say that Minister Grabar Kitarovic suggested that the Russian side may consider a possibility of the delivery of additional gas supplies as of 2009 and that relevant Croatian and Russian companies continue the talks on the matter, which they have already commenced.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has strongly dismisses speculations that Russia is making the increase in gas supplies conditional on Croatia's signature to the Druzba Adria project.

The information which a daily published today is not correct, Sanader said at a news briefing in the Finance Ministry on Friday.

The Environmental Protection and Construction Ministry has entrusted a task force with this issue (Druzba Adria project) and the expert team is expected to elaborate a study which is still a topic of talks, the premier explained.

Sanader added that Croatia had already proposed to Russia and other countries that signed the Druzba Adria project to consider an alternative route, referring to the oil pipeline from Romania's Constanta via Croatia and Slovenia to Trieste, Italy.

"The Slovene and Italian government are holding internal discussions on the matter and all signatories (to the Druzba Adria project), including Russia, are in principle agreed with the alternative directions," he said.

CROAT AMERICANS DISMISS REPORTS ON THEIR DISSATISFACTION WITH CONSUL GENERAL IN LA

Numerous Croats from Los Angeles have a very good and professional cooperation with and fully support the Croatian Consul General, the two associations said in a statement sent to Hina in Washington on Thursday. The statement was signed by the head of the Croatian-American Club, Vladimir Lonza, and the president of the Dalmatian-American Club, Gojko Spralja.

The two associations said that from the start of his term Barbir had demonstrated openness to cooperation, readiness to help, and understanding for the wishes and needs of Croatian Americans.

Lonza and Spralja said that they represented a large number of some 150,000 Croatians who live and work in the areas of Los Angeles and San Pedro.

Their statement came as a response to a petition launched by the Croatian intersocial committee of California and signed by 85 Croat emigrants, who condemned the appointment of Barbir to the post of consul general and urged Zagreb to replace him, claiming that Barbir had collaborated with the former Yugoslav secret police UDBA at the time when he was Yugoslav Consul General in Sydney, Australia.

OVER 5,800 ISTRIANS SIGN PETITION AGAINST ROCK WOOL PLANT IN PICAN

A few environmental associations on Friday held a news conference in Pula to inform about the results of the petition and raise their voice against the factory which Danish company "Rockwool" is planning to build in Pican.

Activists say that such a factory would irreversibly destroy the valley of the Rasa River and high-quality arable land.

They also do not believe that the factory would increase the local employment opportunities.

The activists told the news conference that plans about the factory already badly affected the creation of jobs given that three families jettisoned their plans to invest in agro-tourism in the vicinity of the plant.

Earlier this year, the Danish company "Rockwool", one of the biggest manufacturers of rock wool, obtained a permit to build the plant in Pican municipality in Istria County and construction works were due to begin soon.

The 75 million euro plant is expected to start operating in the summer of 2007 and it will employ 130 workers at the beginning.

ETHNIC SERBS WARN ABOUT DEVASTATION OF THEIR FORESTS IN NORTHEAST CROATIA

The council on Friday sent letters to the Croatian Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, the National Minorities' Council, the county police department, the mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the media to inform them of the illegal logging in privately owned forests in the municipality of Vocin.

The council chairman, Stanisa Zarkovic, said the devastation was done only in the Serb-owned forests and that the logging was performed without the knowledge of the owners,

In this way, 50 hectares of the forests have been so far devastated and thousands of cubic metres of wood have been illegally cut.

Zarkovic said that although it was a well known fact, nobody from the local authorities had so far done anything to stop such activities.

Zarkovic added that local police and administrative authorities "bravely keep silent" about that as it is the property owned by Serbs "but they do not know that Croatia and its forestry resources are again being devastated as many times before".

PHOTOJOURNALISTS COMPLAIN ABOUT CONDUCT OF PRIME MINISTER'S BODYGUARDS

The prime minister promptly responded to their letter, pledging to do his best to remove what he said was misunderstanding.

"This is about misunderstanding in the relations between photojournalists and security services and I will personally try to have the misunderstanding cleared up," Sanader said on Friday when he was asked to comment on the open letter.

He went on to say that there were some situations in which neither he nor anybody from his entourage can decide on the matter but it was within the remit of the security services.

The photojournalists complained that the behaviour of some of his bodyguards limited them in doing their job.

"Their excessive wish to control activities involving taking photographs of you is leading more and more frequently to conflicting situations and embarrassing disputes. Offensive physical and verbal threats directed against photojournalists including the confiscation of the equipment, the erasing of photographs, scuffling ... are not in compliance with basic rules of the fair business relations or good manners," the photojournalists said.

They remind that it is their duty to cover the premier in his public activities and that they are entitled to freedom in their work just as their colleagues in democracies.

ZAGREB COUNTY COURT RECEIVES WAR CRIMES INDICTMENT AGAINST ADEMI AND NORAC

The Zagreb court said on Friday the indictment was lodged yesterday after more than one year had passed since the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) referred the case to the national judiciary.

The indictment, which the Zagreb County Office of the State Prosecutor in cooperation with the ICTY prosecution has adjusted to the Croatian judicial standards, was lodged with the County Court on Thursday, and Judge Marin Mrcela was appointed to lead the proceedings.

The prosecution also asked the two indictees be detained due to the gravity of crimes they are charged with.

Mirko Norac is already serving a 12-year sentence after he was convicted of war crimes committed in the area of Gospic in 1991. Rahim Ademi has been released from the Scheveningen detention centre pending trial, according to a decision of the UN tribunal.

A press release issued by the Zagreb County Court made no mention when the main hearing may commence, nor were any details from the six-point indictment given.

The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) also refused to comment on the contents of the indictment.

"We can only confirm that the indictment was lodged with the court yesterday and that the document is a result of the collaboration between the DORH and the Hague-based Office of Prosecutor," the spokeswoman for the DORH, Martina Mihordin, told Hina today.

According to some unofficial information, the prosecution team in the case will be led by Deputy State Chief Prosecutor, Antun Kvakan, who worked together with Zagreb prosecutors on the adjustment of the indictment to Croatian laws.

The ICTY decided in mid-September last year to refer the case to the Croatian judiciary after it established that all conditions for the referral had been met, including the protection of witnesses and a fair trial.

The Supreme Court President decided to allocate the case to the Zagreb County Court.

The latter court said that Judge Marin Mrcela was selected to lead the case according to the court's rule book and the annual programme of allocating jobs among judges. In addition, Mrcela was engaged in the training of other judges for war crimes trials, and has experience and skills for such trials.

WITNESS IN SELLOTAPE CASE CHANGES STATEMENT

Rozac would not comment on the content of the statement. An attorney for Getos-Magdic, Kresimir Krsnik, would neither confirm nor deny that his client had changed her statement.

According to unofficial sources, Getos-Magdic changed her initial statement from October and in her new statement she does not accuse anyone of war crimes committed by the Drava river in Osijek in 1991, including Branimir Glavas.

Court spokesman Rozac said that the investigation into six people suspected of war crimes in the so-called Sellotape case was continuing before the Osijek County Court with new witness testimonies.

On December 20, the investigating judge in the case, Mario Kovac, temporarily suspended the investigation of Branimir Glavas due to his condition caused by a 37-day hunger strike.

EX-JUSTICE MINISTER ANTICEVIC MARINOVIC HASN'T ABUSE OFFICE - DORH

The Office of the Chief State Prosecutor (DORH) on Friday issued a statement saying that there were no grounds for suspicion that while being the Justice Minister, Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic could have abused her office by signing the said consent,

The media recently reported that Anticevic Marinovic did a favour to her husband's client Drago Jurisic, as her signature to the paper helped him to swap his petrol station in Bosanski Brod , Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a petrol station in Luzani in Croatia. The Croatian national oil company INA also claimed ownership over the Luzani petrol station at the time.

Anticevic Marinovic recently resigned from all senior positions in the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) over media allegations on her involvement in scandals surrounding the work of her husband.

The Zagreb municipal office of the State Prosecutor explained that it was the civil law department of the ministry that had drawn up a decision on the consent, and Anticevic Marinovic signed the document in her capacity as the minister.

LESS THAN ONE-THIRD OF CITIZENS EXPECT 2007 TO BE BETTER THAN 2006

According to the End of Year Survey, which was conducted by the international organisation the Voice of the People and which covered 48,500 respondents from 56 countries, the leading world optimists are Pacific and African countries (Vietnam, Hong Kong, Ghana) and European countries Kosovo, Georgia and Sweden, while Croatia is among the five leading pessimists, along with Greece, Portugal, Iraq and Italy.

Slightly less than one-third of the world population expects economic progress in 2007, and slightly less than one-fourth of Croatians expect 2007 to be a year of economic progress.

Some 41 percent of respondents both on the global level and in Croatia expect higher unemployment, and as many people believe that 2007 will be a problematic year.

The Croatian survey was conducted by the Puls agency.

"Kurban Bairam is a holiday celebrating divine providence, which always rewards man's trust in God, and inspiring the Muslim faithful to love their neighbours and be grateful to God for the goods they receive," Mesic said in the message, among other things.

Sabor Speaker Vladimir Seks and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader also extended seasonal greetings to the Islamic community.

"I am happy that Zagreb is hosting the meeting that is held under the symbolic slogan 'a pilgrimage of trust on earth'. We welcome you as true ambassadors of peace and good will. Your living in the spirit of true values of life and ecumenical union of young people is of great importance for building trust among nations and for building Europe's future on strong foundations. I am glad than many young people from Zagreb and Croatia are taking part in your joint creative endeavour," Mesic said in the message, wishing all participants in the event all the best for Christmas and New Year holidays.

A consultant for the Croatian Ski Federation, Kurt Hoch, and a representative of the International Ski Federation (FIS), Filip Gartner, held talks on Friday and agreed that an official notice on holding the race as scheduled would be sent to all FS members.

Reno Fleiss, the Snow Queen Trophy race chief, on Thursday informed that the majority of the Crveni spust ski course surface was already frozen and ready for the race, and the only one part that was left for the preparation was the easiest, flat part of the course, according to the web site of the Snow Queen Trophy slalom.

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