CRO GOVT DECIDES ON TIME FRAME FOR REINTEGRATION OF DANUBIAN AREA

ZAGREB, Jan 17 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Friday decided on a time frame for the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area up to July 15, 1997. "All prerequisites have been met for the election to take place on March 16, within the framework of what has been agreed between President Tudjman and Transitional Administrator Jacques Klein," Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic said. After the election, Croatia would gradually take over authority over the Danubian area in one month, Kostovic said. He emphasised that electoral rolls should compiled and voters issued with Croatian documents before the election. Croatian refugees would begin to return to their homes in greater numbers after the election, he said. The UN Security Council was expected to issue a Presidential Statement next week in response to a Letter of Intent forwarded by the Croatian Government, Foreign Minister Mate Granic said. "Together with President Tudjman's visit to the Croatian Danubian area, this Letter is a crucial event in the peaceful reintegration process," Granic said. The first 2,000 homes for returnees would be ready and livable by next summer, and Croatian companies would start on the reconstruction of Vukovar in May, Deputy Prime Minister Jure Radic announced. Interior Minister Ivan Penic warned about the unfavourable ethnic structure of the transitional police, which was comprised of 1,218 Serbs and only 340 Croats. "This ratio cannot bring any good," Penic said, adding that the number of Croatian policemen would increase this very month. "On election day, the structure of the police must guarantee that there will be no incidents," Penic stressed. Agriculture Minister Zlatko Dominikovic announced that 10,000 hectares of arable land in the Danubian area would be sown with sugar-beet this spring. Summing up, Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa said the time frame was well prepared and asked members of the Government to convey to local Serbs that they "should not even dream of a change in the territorial structure, a county or things like that." (hina) mm as 171959 MET jan 97