VIENNA VIENNA, Feb 16 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul informed members of the OSCE Permanent Council of the main political objectives of the Croatian government in Vienna on Monday.
VIENNA, Feb 16 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul informed
members of the OSCE Permanent Council of the main political objectives
of the Croatian government in Vienna on Monday.#L#
At an extraordinary session of the Permanent Council. Zuzul said the
government's main priority on the foreign political front was
Croatia's joining NATO and the EU. Croatia wants to advance its ties
with neighbouring countries in the region and actively participate in
the efforts the international community is investing into combating
terrorism, people and drugs smuggling, Zuzul said.
In home affairs, the task of the Croatian government is to implement
further democratisation of the country in order to overcome problems
from the past, notably those from the war, Zuzul said and added that
Croatia was not doing this only because of its European and
Euro-Atlantic ambitions. "We are entirely aware that respecting the
rights of minorities, the return of refugees and the restitution of
their property, the implementation of reforms, particularly in the
judiciary, as well as further development of the media, are
pre-conditions for Croatia's stable and democratic development, Zuzul
said.
The minister said the list of priorities included the return of
refugees regardless of their nationality and the restitution of their
property, "All those who wish to return must be given the possibility
to do so, my government will do everything to facilitate the return,"
said Zuzul.
The result of the government's efforts is the restitution of 15,770 of
a total of 19,279 homes which were occupied by temporary tenants in
1995. In the last ten years the Croatian government set aside some
US3 billion for this purpose, of which 90 percent came directly from
the budget.
Croatia will continue to promote cooperation with its neighbours and
the international community in order to achieve stability in the
region and prosperity in the development of good neighbourly
relations, the Croatian minister said.
Zuzul also stressed Croatia's intensified cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He said
Croatia was ready to process war criminals. After additional justice
reforms are implemented, Croatian courts will be ready to process ICTY
cases. This would mean the recognition of independence and competence
of Croatia's judiciary, Zuzul said and added that the ICTY chief
prosecutor announced Croatia should expect new indictments.
Speaking about the country's cooperation with the OSCE, Zuzul said
that over the past few weeks Croatia held intensive talks with the
OSCE Mission in Croatia and expressed conviction that future
cooperation would be even more successful. He said Croatia would
continue to participate in OSCE's activities and missions.
Apart from the 55 OSCE member countries, the extraordinary session in
Vienna was also attended by the head of the OSCE Mission in Croatia,
Peter Semneby.
According to the Foreign Ministry's statement about today's talks
between Zuzul and his Austrian counterpart Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the
Austrian minister confirmed that her country would support Croatia's
candidacy for non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. She
also expressed her country's support to Croatia's accelerated joining
the EU. Austria is ready to do all that it can so that the European
Commission adopts a positive opinion on Croatia's application for EU
membership and that the country be given a candidate status in June,
the Austrian minister said.
The statement said that Zuzul and Ferrero-Waldner expressed
satisfaction with the two countries' economic cooperation and the
overall bilateral relations.
(Hina) it sb