OSIJEK COUNTY PREFECT RECEIVES OSCE COMMISSIONER FOR NATIONAL MINO RITIES

RITIES OSIJEK, June 30 (Hina) - The high commissioner for national minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Max van der Stoel, on Monday held talks with Branimir Glavas, the prefect of the Osijek-Baranja County, UN-administered eastern Croatia, a statement from Glavas's office said. The talks focused on the process of peaceful reintegration, the constituting and financing of bodies of local self-administration, the return of displaced persons and refugees, and reconstruction in the Croatian Danube region. There were no problems with the newly elected local self- administration, since an agreement between the Croatian Democratic Union Party and the Serb Democratic Independent Party had been successfully complied with, said Glavas. Difficulties were expected in the financing of municipalities, Glavas stressed, because municipalities did not have means of income or economic potential of their own. By reviving economy in most municipalities, a financial base would be provided for their undisturbed functioning, he added. The return was, according to van der Stoel, possible only as a two- way process, in which the return of Serbs would open the possibility for the return of Croat displaced persons. "Croatia has shown maximum political will to solve the Danube region problem peacefully, but alone it lacks sufficient financial means for the continuity of the reconstruction process, which is closely linked to the reintegration," Glavas pointed out. The statement from the Osijek-Baranja County prefect's office concluded by saying that van der Stoel expressed satisfaction with the fact that during today's talks, he got the opinion that the peaceful reintegration was progressing step by step, and would continue to do so. (hina) ha 301620 MET jun 97