EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION VISITS VUKOVAR

( Editorial: --> 3873 ) VUKOVAR, Feb 22 (Hina) - A European Parliament and European Commission delegation on Sunday visited Vukovar, an eastern Croatian town which was under UN transitional administration until 15 January. The delegation, led by the European Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee chairman Tom Spencer, visited two apartment buildings whose reconstruction was financed by the European Union, and met their tenants - Vukovar returnees. The EU representatives also acquainted themselves with a project of reconstruction of the Vukovar Danube River port. They told reporters they had visited the region in order to acquaint themselves with projects which were being implemented with EU money. The EU is especially interested in how the return of displaced people and refugees is progressing, Spencer said. The president of the delegation of the European Commission for North-East Europe, Doris Pack, said the Croatian Government should be prompted to draw up return and reconstruction plans not only for eastern Slavonia, but also for western Slavonia and other areas from which people had fled or been expelled. This should be done as soon as possible, Pack said, adding the delegation had heard that many Serbs were leaving the area because they did not see their future there. Pack said she would support, within the Commission, the creation of as many jobs as possible, so that the departure of people from the area could be stopped. The Reconstruction and Development Ministry was of a similar opinion, said Assistant Reconstruction and Development Minister and head of the Centre for the Reconstruction and Development of the Danube Region, Ivan Krstanovic. Without the creation of new jobs and conditions in which residents of the region will be able to secure existence with their work, there will be no normal life, Krstanovic said. Thanking the EU for the reconstruction in eastern Slavonia and Vukovar, Krstanovic said that 70,000 flats in the area had been damaged or destroyed and that two billion US dollars should be invested into the creation of minimum living conditions. The Croatian government will set aside some 10 per cent of that amount this year, Krstanovic said. (hina) jn rm 222140 MET feb 98