CROATIAN PRESIDENT GRANTS INTERVIEW TO REUTERS

ZAGREB, July 3 (Hina) - Croatian President Franjo Tudjman granted an interview to Reuters television and news agency on Thursday. Asked to comment on Tuesday's decision of the World Bank to postpone a $30 million loan to Croatia "after strong lobbying from the United States" which said that Croatia had not met its Dayton peace treaty commitments sufficiently, President Tudjman replied that the Croatia would continue to pursue its principled policy. "Concerning the Dayton accords and cooperation with the Hague tribunal, (Croatia) has been more constructive and more cooperative than the other sides involved," he said and added that his country could not be asked to do what was not asked from other sides involved. There was the democratic public opinion in Croatia, which we should take into account, and in this regard it was indisputable that Croatia met its international commitments. I held that in this sense international factors would correct some of their views, the Croatian President said. Asked why all Bosnian Croat war crimes suspects had not been extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, he answered that it was only Croatia that did everything in order that those (suspects) who had been in Croatia arrived in The Hague, whereas none of other parties did so. "Whoever has been indicted and is present in the Republic of Croatia will be delivered to the tribunal in the Hague but in Croatia there are no indicted persons held by the Croatian authorities," he added. Asked if he planned to use his influence to encourage Bosnian Croats to extradite indicted suspects he said that in such cases he could not be only "held responsible for what is taking place in Bosnia- Herzegovina." "So far we have also brought our influence to bear on the situation over there and … I believe the results were more than good," he added. Speaking of the situation in Mostar, he said that certain international circles were always pointing out the problem of Mostar. He added that mostly those who tried to discredit the Dayton accords or were not interested in the accords raised the question of Mostar. Mostar was only one question within implementation of the Dayton agreement, and there were problems of establishment of federal authorities and cantonal authorities, the problem of establishment of the diplomacy of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croat-Moslem Federation in the spirit of the Washington and Dayton accords and so on, he explained. But it was only the case of Mostar that was insisted on, Tudjman said and described the case as a very difficult problem due to the fact that the problem of the current national composition of the town's residents was completely different from the pre-war composition. "The Croats in Bosnia Herzegovina and specifically in … Mostar itself are ready to meet their commitments… Of course they would also like the other sides to be compliant with the requirements," Tudjman added. Answering questions about the economy in Croatia, he said that the government would devote more efforts to creating new jobs and improving the standard of living of Croatian people. "We are aware of the fact that the standard of living still leaves room for improvement and this can only be achieved by increasing output, by increasing employment," Tudjman told Reuters in the interview. "In this regard we are planning to decrease the tax burden both on citizens and the economy," he said and voiced belief that they would succeed in this effort. Reuters cited that in autumn 1993 Croatia managed to curb hyper- inflation, and since then incomes have risen in line with very low inflation rates. " The pensions like the salaries of public servants … were frozen only through conditions in which Croatia had to live - it had to create its own armed forces … establish its diplomacy and so forth," Tudjman said. The British agency also cited that after 1995 salaries and pensions began to rise, and in 1997 the government increased the non-taxable salary base and cut income tax. "We have also promised that both salaries and pensions will be increased this year by 24 or even 25 percent," the Croatian President added. (hina) mš 032310 MET jul 97