CROATIAN-ITALIAN COMMISSION FOR POLITICAL ISSUES IN SESSION IN SPL

SPL $ IT SPLIT, March 24 (Hina) - The Croatian-Italian commission for political issues, led by an assistant to Croatian Foreign Minister, Hido Biscevic, and an Italian Ambassador, Vincenzo Manno, met in Split on Monday afternoon to hold its 12th session. Before the meeting, which is being held behind the closed doors, the Croatian delegation's head Biscevic said to reporters that Italian officials would express their views on the Croatian proposal about the way how the Croatian side could pay US$ 35 million as its obligations under Osimo Accords. Under the Osimo Accords signed by Italy and the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Italian optants had the right to receive compensation for the abandoned property, whereas under the 1984 Rome Agreements, the former Yugoslavia (SFRY) had to pay about US$ 120 million to Italy for optants' property. Following the break-up of the ex-Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Croatia assumed obligations to pay off the remaining debt. Biscevic said that Croatia had proposed that one half of the debt should be settled through direct indemnity, while the other one should be paid off by hotel shares from the portfolio of the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP). The Split session will also discuss compensation for damage which citizens of the two countries had suffered in World War II and after it. Both the Croatian and the Italian judiciary have received Croatian citizens' requests for compensation of damage inflicted on them during the Italian occupation (in WW II). In this regard, Croatia would propose an urgent session of a commission for historical issues that is part of this Croatian- Italian commission, which would revolve around such important and politically sensitive questions, Biscevic said. The Croatian side would notify the Split session of its Government's and ministries' stance and decisions on the ratification of an agreement on minorities' position including education of minorities in their mother tongue, he added. (hina) jn mš 241809 MET mar 97