CROATIAN GOVT YET TO SET DATE FOR COUNTRYWIDE LOCAL ELECTIONS

ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - The Croatian government will set a date for countrywide local elections on Monday or Tuesday, after which the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES) will make a decision on simultaneous elections in the Danube river region, Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Kostovic said in Zagreb on Monday. Earlier on, Croatian President Franjo Tudjman met UN Transitional Administrator General Jacques Klein for talks on the progress of peaceful reintegration of UN-administered eastern Croatia, with particular emphasis on the date of elections in the entire country, including the region. "In the course of today and tomorrow the Croatian leadership will make a decision on the exact date of elections in Croatia, after which UNTAES will decide by the end of the week on holding simultaneous elections in the Croatian Danubian region," Kostovic told reporters after the Tudjman-Klein talks in which he had participated. The President will make this decision, it's not for us to decide, Klein said in response to a question about the date of the election. Croatian government officials have so far mentioned March 16 as the date of local elections in the entire country. Klein said that UNTAES had never claimed that the election would be held on March 16 but predicted it in the early spring. "I discussed with the President the dates. He obviously will now consult with his own ministers and then we will try to find a date that meets the needs of everyone, that allows enough time to have a fair election," Klein said. Asked whether he had proposed to President Tudjman to postpone the election, Klein said that the date could not be postponed since it had never been determined. "We cannot postpone something that hasn't been determined yet," Kostovic said. Confirming that the Croatian government had announced March 16 as the date of the election, he stressed that a decision on the date had never been made. Responding to a journalist's question, Kostovic ruled out the possibility of holding the election in the UN-administered region on a different date from that of elections elsewhere in Croatia. He stressed that the UN Security Council had stipulated in its presidential statement that the election should take place on the same day in the entire country. "This is part of Croatia and the goal is to have the election at the same time," Klein emphasized. Klein and Kostovic noted that an important topic of today's talks was completion of the military mandate of UNTAES by July 15. Klein added that July 15 was also the date until which the UNTAES military mandate should be completed. Describing as generous the offer to the Serbs which the Croatian government had presented in a letter to the UN Security Council, Klein said that the letter was a key to the further process of peaceful reintegration. He said that the letter went far beyond the Erdut peace agreement in its effort to reassure the people in the region that they were not only welcome in Croatia but that their rights would be protected. Noting that progress had already been made, Klein said that the reintegration process was continuing slowly in order to avoid destabilization. "We still have a small group there that is opposing us," he said, underlining that he would not allow that group to stand in the way of the peaceful reintegration. In this context Klein said that the appointed mayor of Vukovar Keravica was calling on the people not to take Croatian citizenship documents. "People don't have to take documentation. No one will force them to take documentation, but every citizen has a right to his documentation," Klein said. (hina) vm jn 101735 MET feb 97