CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS (2)

ZAGREB, Jan 22 (Hina) - In conclusion of his two-hour state of the nation address to the Parliament, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman presented essential tasks of state policy in 1997. Here is the full text of the final chapter of the address headlined "Conclusion: Essential Tasks of State Policy in 1997": 1. Having achieved, in the past year, results which are as a whole satisfactory, and very good in some fields, we have met all the prerequisite conditions to continue attaining, through the consistent implementation of the long-term programme of present-day Croatian revival, further success in the building of independent, democratic Croatia, and particularly in improving the standards of living of the entire population, in 1997 as well. In the coming year all government authorities, and the entire Croatian public, must focus on the solution of the essential questions which are currently of general national-State interest. 2. All governmental bodies at all levels, and all public firms, must take every step, within their scope of activity, required to complete the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian Region into the constitutional-juridical system of Croatia by July 15, 1997. In the process, consistent compliance is required with the agreement concluded between the Croatian Government and the Transitional Administrator, General Klein. The successful termination of the UNTAES mandate and the consequent establishment, as soon as possible, of Croatian sovereignty over the region, with the border on the Danube, is of essential importance for Croatia. Immediately after the establishment of local and county authorities after the elections, every step should be taken in order to effect the return of displaced persons within the shortest possible time, and to revive overall economic and social life in the region. 3. The implementation of this year's elections for local bodies, municipalities, cities and counties, and for the Chamber of Counties of Parliament, is of outstanding importance also because their concurrent holding in the region under the Transitional UNTAES Administration is a precondition for the completion of the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian Region. The elections for the President of the Republic are certainly as important. Government administration is responsible for providing normal conditions for the elections. All truly democratic and patriotic forces should provide their own contribution to making these elections serve the continued strengthening of the democratic order, and the qualitative improvement of local and government administration as a whole, so as to ensure, at all levels, a more successful solution of all problems in the future development of Croatia into a democratic country of progress, rule of law and social justice. These elections may also be expected to contribute to the greater maturity and stabilization of Croatia's young multiparty life. 4. Within the scope of legal and implementational preparations for the elections, representation of all ethnic communities and national minorities - the Serbian, Hungarian, Italian, etc. - in local and government bodies should be ensured in accordance with constitutional and legal provisions and with the European Charter. The representation of minorities should be regulated on the basis of the general statistical census of the population which - as decided by the Government - should be carried out as soon as possible. 5. In the coming year all government authority - legislative, executive and judiciary - should take more coordinated and more determined steps in developing the democratic order for the sake of a more complete realization of the rule of law, and full respect of human, civil and minority rights. The highest bodies of government authority must act in accordance with their constitutional and lawful powers, with the full respect of the principle of separation of powers, but also of the principle of inalienability, indivisibility and untransferrability of State sovereignty, so as to ensure the enforcement of State policy all levels. In the new, peace-time conditions of social and State life, the Croatian political system must be developed and juridically upgraded along the line of awareness of the need for fullest agreement among all layers of the Croatian people, and among all political parties, with respect to the fundamental, long-term but also momentary interests of the Croatian people and the Croatian State. The achievement of Croatian national agreement and unity is the basic prerequisite for a strong, economically prosperous, socially just and genuinely democratic State of Croatia. In the development of the democratic multiparty system, particular care should be paid to ensuring the freedom of the media. However, no freedom can imply a licence to anarchy, to turning democratic order into disorder. Freedom of the media cannot involve any violation of legal regulations, and the same applies to foreign citizens. Personal legal responsibility for one's deeds and words must also and particularly be present in this field, too, just as in any democratic country. This year the salaries of civil servants, of the highest officials and of the judiciary must be increased in order to improve the overall system of government authority. Certain constitutional provisions ought to be amended this year, in the sense to which I have referred earlier, but there is no need for any essential change of our constitutional system. 6. In the coming year the basic task of economic policy must be the promotion of investment and technological progress, and the maintenance of a high rate of growth. The achievement and sustaining of high growth requires the stimulation of savings, and initiatives for new investments into small businesses and handicrafts. The creation of the highest possible number of well-paid productive jobs is of the highest importance in order to give Croatian citizens the opportunity to take active part in the provision of their individual, higher standards of living and in the development of an affluent Croatia. The policy focused on increasing living standards and employment requires higher savings, investments and entrepreneurship, and of exports as the yardstick of the success of overall developmental efforts. Rapid economic growth is also the precondition for the faster solution of social problems, that is, for maintaining the solidarity of the classes of society and social peace. It is also a precondition for the more even development of all counties, and particularly for the speedier recovery of the areas ravaged by war. In 1997 comprehensive support should be provided to areas liberated from Great-Serbian occupation, that is, to the areas of particular governmental concern as proclaimed by the Croatian Parliament. The demographic, economic, infrastructural, cultural and spiritual recovery of these Croatian areas must be the primary task of the Croatian State policy. Within the scope of demographic recovery of these areas (in which the density of settlement is only one-fifth of the average for Croatia), the settlement of expatriate Croats, and of people from the overpopulated major Croatian cities, must be stimulated in particular. More systematic steps are required in order to promote the return of expatriates in terms of free travel and legal benefits, as well as in terms of a resolute elimination of all red tape. 7. In addition to economic recovery, demographic and spiritual revival has from the very beginning been the basic objective of national and political rebirth realized through the establishment of the independent and sovereign Croatian State. So far considerable effort has been invested into demographic recovery both in legal and in real terms, but this all-important question requires continued attention in the coming year as well. Due consideration ought to be given to linking children's benefits and allowances to the children, so that the mother could keep her employment while being capable of caring for her children. In view of the extremely serious and unfavourable situation concerning the growth of Croatian population, and in order to promote natural growth, serious thought should be given to limit abortion, both in legal and real terms, and permit it only in cases involving medical and some other real reasons, and to the ways of promoting the birth rate. The government and banking systems should immediately seek favourable opportunities for proving housing credits to young people. These and other solutions to which I have already referred should prevent the young people from leaving their homeland. If they are given the opportunity to solve their housing problems, employment and free advancement in their chosen careers, we can expect that the feeling of attachment to their native region and to the Homeland will prevail in the majority of young people. 8. The principal educational policy tasks for 1997 may be summarized as follows: - first, continued promotion of positive achievement in the building of the organization and identity of the Croatian school system; - and, second, the improvement of the material conditions in the school system, and of the living standards of the educators as a precondition for stable development and successful education of Croatian youth. Awareness of the need for involvement in the establishment and implementation of national scientific research programmes should be promoted at all levels of government administration, and in all the segments of economic life, in which an important role must be played by the Chambers of Commerce and of Crafts and Trades. Concern with education, the application of science and high technology, comprehensive computerization in particular, will be the most important instruments of economic development. The development of small and medium scale firms will greatly depend on the acquisition of new knowledge, and especially on their links with universities and scientific institutes, if they are to be competitive in the international markets. In this regard, over the next period particular attention must be devoted to the continued reorganization of higher education. The revival of Croatian science should be sustained through particular concern with post-graduate degree candidates, with the provision of conditions favouring their stay in the country, and their maximum integration into the mainstream of scientific and economic development. The already initiated establishment of institutions combining science and the economy (technology and other centres) should be speeded up as much as possible, especially in centres other than Zagreb. In the implementation of cultural policy at all levels it should be kept in mind that culture, along with education, has to assume the main responsibility in the spiritual revival of Croatian society in terms of overcoming all the negative legacy of the Yugoserbian and communist period. In proceeding from such an awareness the Ministry of Culture must stimulate all the activities promoting creativity and cultural life in all Croatian centres. Particular attention should be paid to solving the problems affecting the main Croatian theatres, to the development of the Croatian film industry, and to the international presentation of Croatian culture. In the field of health care, the positive achievements in health care should be followed-up. This implies sustaining balanced consumption and employment, higher wages and salaries, the reconstruction of destroyed facilities and the start of the developmental investment cycle. The implementation of reasonable privatization along the line of the experience of other countries, especially in our conditions of relatively modest available resources for health care consumption, may promote a more efficient use of limited resources and additional insurance opportunities, and hence promote the quality and competitiveness of the services. The Sports Law should be adopted this year. The Law should regulate the relations in this important field in order to overcome the many ambiguities, the loss of one's bearings and even the anarchy with which the government administration and the public are faced on a daily basis. The Law must specify the limits between amateurism and professionalism, and prevent the establishment of extremely inefficient competition systems under the guise of one or the other, and unreasonable, wasteful and under-the-table financing. The Law must also accurately specify financing and management in amateur and professional sports. 9. Since the consequences of war and aggression will still be felt for a long time to come, as will the hardships of the transition period, 1997 will also require major effort if all the requirements, and in particular the main State policy tasks, are to be met successfully within the scope of the adopted government budget. In this connection I call upon all bodies of government authority to bear in mind at all times, in their decisions and the enforcement thereof, the need for extreme economy and savings, and particularly for the reduction of bureaucracy in every respect and at all levels. Of equally great importance is the development of the people's awareness of the need for the consistent fulfilment of one's obligations to the State, individually and within one's organization alike, because this is not only in the interest of the State but also in the interest of the individual - the taxpayer and the beneficiary of social rights and State protection. It is only then that the individual is entitled to request the State to fulfill its own obligations to him individually and to his institutions. In addition, this is one of the most important preconditions for relieving taxpayers and improving the living standards of the population in general, and of its poorer segments in particular. 10. In 1997 Croatia will sustain its policy of promoting good relations with all countries, with a particular focus on cooperation and the promotion of joint interests with neighbouring countries, and with countries to which it is linked through special friendly relations and strategic partnership. Croatia will continue to stimulate and support the arrangement of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the basis of the Washington and Dayton agreements, and, in this context, the closest ties with the Bosniac-Croat Federation. Croatia supports the continued normalization of relations with the FR of Yugoslavia (Serbian and Montenegro) in the interest of peace and stability of the new international order in this part of Europe. The permanent goal of Croatian foreign policy is the comprehensive return to the fold of the Central European and Mediterranean circle of European countries to which it belongs in historical, civilizational and economic terms. Croatia has been and will remain to be a constructive factor in the settlement of the crisis and the establishment of a new international order in the region. However, Croatia is resolutely opposed to any formal integration into a regional Yugoslav, Balkan or Southeast-European framework, whether or not it is called an alliance, a union or merely economic connection. Nevertheless, as a country connected with that region, Croatia supports good relations with all the States in it, and we are interested in the solution of joint problems in traffic and economic ties where these are of bilateral or multilateral interest, both for the sake of direct economic purpose and for the sake of stability of the new international order. As a country bordering the region, Croatia does not renounce its responsibility, and it is prepared to continue to be a constructive factor in every respect, including the connection of the region with Europe and the West. Croatia will continue to cooperate constructively with the United Nations and its bodies and specialized agencies, with the OSCE and with other organizations operating in accordance with the principles of international law and the UN charter. 11. The system of national-State security must be developed and upgraded in order to ensure the stability of the democratic order, the rule of law, and the security of citizens in physical and property terms. The future development of the Croatian army, air force and navy should be adjusted to peace-time conditions. We must aim at the alliance with the North Atlantic security system and integration into their technical frameworks. The Croatian armed forces must cultivate the traditions of the people out of which they have developed, and the victorious spirit of the Homeland War. The professional expertise and combat readiness of all units must be upgraded continuously. The living conditions of units and soldiers must be improved while applying maximum economy in all fields in order to reduce the high defence expenditure. We should continuously bear in mind the fact that the strength of the Croatian Armed Forces - of the Croatian Army, Air Force and Navy - has guaranteed the establishment and will guarantee the defence and the future of the independent, democratic and sovereign Croatian State. 12. These essential tasks facing us in 1997 are indeed of great importance for the future development and strengthening of our young State. On the basis of overall past experience, let me express the firm conviction that all government authorities - legislative, executive and judiciary - will successfully carry out all the tasks, just as they have carried out all their tasks in the past, together with their Croatian people and all the Croatian citizens for the sake of the progress and prosperity of our Homeland, for the well-being, happiness and prosperity of all the Croatian people, for the strengthening of the independent, democratic and sovereign Croatian State. (excerpts from the central part of the speech focusing on domestic policy to follow) (hina) vm mš 221414 MET jan 97