OSIJEK MAYOR RECEIVES HEAD OF OSCE MISSION

OSIJEK, March 29 (Hina) - The mayor of the eastern Croatian town of Osijek on Wednesday held talks with the head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Croatia. Mayor Zlatko Kramaric and OSCE's Bernard Poncet discussed the problems encountered by the local self-government and ways of resolving them, and OSCE's future role and co-operation with the town's authorities. Mayor Kramaric said he hopes the OSCE in the future would not be only an observer, but offer concrete projects for solving problems. Poncet said the OSCE would consider concrete co-operation in the future in order to support democratic changes which he said are wanted by the majority. Speaking about the issue of returns to pre-war homes and tenancy rights, Poncet said there were many instances of illegal tenants in Osijek. These are the result of privileges the government gave people in the past and are now difficult to settle, he said. We support tenancy certificates based on citizenship and not only on national belonging, Poncet said. (hina) ha