Speaking at a news conference, Fuentes repeated an announcement by the OSCE Chairman, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who said in Dubrovnik recently that he would suggest to the OSCE Permanent Council in November to close down the 11-year-long mission.
All 56 members of the Permanent Council respect and love Croatia. Some of them want to show it by closing down the Mission, and some by continuing to provide assistance to Croatia, Fuentes said, hoping for a positive consensus on Croatia.
Fuentes presented a report on the progress Croatia has made since June 2006, which reads that "the climate of democracy, the openness of society and the growing operational transparency of government bodies has become better established and will continue as Croatia pursues its twin goals of EU and NATO membership".
The two issues on which the Mission will focus until its closure are refugee return and supervision of war crimes trials in Croatia.
Fuentes said that war crimes trials that were referred to Croatia by the Hague war crimes tribunal could be monitored by an office to be based in Croatia, an office based outside the country, or by OSCE staff who could join the ICTY Office in Zagreb.
As for refugee return, the OSCE Mission head pointed to two unresolved issues - possible compensation for former occupancy and tenancy rights holders in Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina who do not wish to return to Croatia and the issue of convalidation of working years spent in the formerly occupied areas of Croatia.
Fuentes condemned a recent attack on Mirko Bogojevic and his son Dobrivoje in Gornji Vrhovci, a village of return in Pozega County, who were brutally beaten up in their home and locked up in the bathroom, with the attackers setting their living room and kitchen on fire.
We condemn the incident, which does not contribute to reconciliation... the OSCE will help find the perpetrators as soon as possible, Fuentes said.