ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - German Bundestag (Federal Parliament) representatives and members of the Croatian Parliament's foreign policy committee met in Zagreb on Thursday to discuss the relations between Croatia and Euro-Atlantic
integrations, the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the reintegration of the Croatian Danubian area.
ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - German Bundestag (Federal Parliament)
representatives and members of the Croatian Parliament's foreign
policy committee met in Zagreb on Thursday to discuss the relations
between Croatia and Euro-Atlantic integrations, the situation in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the reintegration of the Croatian Danubian
area. #L#
Representatives of all Croatian parliamentary parties
concurred in their opinion that the regional approach to Croatia
was unacceptable and that Croatia's strategic goal was admission to
the European Union and NATO.
Bundestag member and foreign policy spokesman for the Social
Democratic Party (SPD), Guenther Verheugen said the European
Union's goal in promoting the regional approach was not to restore
old political structures in the Balkans or create a similar new
structure, but to strengthen the cooperation - chiefly economic -
between the countries in the region.
Foreign policy committee chairman Zdravko Domljan (HDZ) said
the regional approach, as conceived by both the European Union and
the United States, was not only an economic initiative but
definitely a political concept.
Noting that Croatia was being critically viewed in western
Europe, Verheugen said the main reasons was the fact that Serbs had
not returned to the liberated parts of Croatia, together with the
Zagreb crisis and the freedom of the media.
"If Croatia's goal is central Europe as opposed to the
Balkans, Croatia must apply central-European standards," Verheugen
said.
He stressed, however, that he believed that Croatia had
prospects for a "speedy and full integration into Euro-Atlantic
associations."
Domljan said Croatia was uneasy over the fact that it has not
been admitted to NATO's Partnership for Peace program, even though
many countries had been admitted which, unlike Croatia, did not
meet the requirements.
Verheugen said he did not understand why Croatia had not yet
been admitted to Partnership for Peace.
Asked whether Croatia's priority was Bosnia's territorial
integrity or its commitments toward Bosnian Croats or some other
interests, Domljan replied that Croatia was sincerely committed to
the integral Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as to the rights of the
Croatian people as a constituent nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We are committed to integral Bosnia as a state, but we are
not sure that's the policy of the international community," said
Zdravko Tomac (Social Democratic Party).
Disintegration tendencies that were initiated in Dayton could
bring about an even more horrendous war than this one was, Tomac
warned.
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061443 MET feb 97