OFFICIAL PART OF CONFERENCE ON REINTEGRATION OF DANUBE AREA ENDS ( Editorial: --> 1003 )

( Editorial: --> 1003 ) STRASBOURG, Nov 14 (Hina) - The official part of a conference on the reintegration of the UN-administered Danube region into Croatia's legal system ended in Strasbourg on Friday with a joint conclusion that the process was a great success and that it had to be completed before the expiry of the UNTAES mandate in mid-January. Assistant Justice Minister Ivan Lovric said the overall discussion at the conference would be "a substantial contribution to Croatia's integration into the European legal system." It was said before the closing of the conference that the reintegration of the region was crucial for Croatian democracy and that Croatia had already taken significant steps to build a justice system based on the highest European principles of the protection of human rights and the rule of law. The conference involved representatives of the Croatian judiciary, the Council of Europe, the UN Transitional Administration (UNTAES), and judges and attorneys from the Danube region. Croatian Ambassador to the Council of Europe Vladimir Matek urged the international community to help financially in resolving property issues in Croatia. Without the reconstruction of housing and the return of displaced persons and refugees to their homes, it will be impossible to fully implement even the best court decisions, Matek said. As an illustration that Croatia was serious in its effort to resolve those issues, Matek said that the Constitutional Court had annulled unconstitutional parts of the Law on the Temporary Takeover of Abandoned Property in the former Serb-occupied areas and that proceedings had been initiated for assessing the constitutionality of legal provisions regulating the eviction of displaced persons from their temporary homes. (hina) vm jn 142059 MET nov 97