CROATIA ADMITTED TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE

STRASBOURG, April 24 (Hina) - The Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly on Wednesday granted Croatia's request for full membership in the Council of Europe. The Assembly recommended to the Committee of Ministers, due to convene in May, to invite Croatia to become a full member of the oldest European political organization. By adopting the proposed document with a majority of votes after a lively discussion, the Assembly proposed to the Committee of Ministers to allocate to Croatia five seats in the Assembly. A proposal by four parliamentarians that a discussion on Croatia's accession to the Council of Europe be postponed until June was rejected by a majority of votes. Rapporteurs of three most important committees, Rene Pierre van der Linden of the Netherlands, Gunnar Janson of Finland and Alexander Henry Scrymgeour Earl of Dundee of Britain, stressed that their committees supported Croatia's bid for full membership. Van der Linden of the Political Affairs Committee said that many positive changes had taken place in Croatia, such as the adoption of the law on cooperation with the Hague-based international war crimes tribunal, the voluntary departure of General Tihomir Blaskic to The Hague, the acceptance of a long-term OSCE mission, increasingly improving cooperation with Belgrade, the resolution of the problem of the Kuplensko refugee camp and the signing of a list of 21 Council of Europe demands. Van der Linden said that there were also some disturbing facts concerning freedom of speech and the election of a mayor of Zagreb. But our decision should not be based on that, he added. Janson of the Committee for Human Rights and Legal Matters expressed unanimous support of his committee, saying that Council of Europe member states should have confidence in Croatia. During the discussion, Croatia received particular support from Walter Scwimmer of Germany and a former Parliamentary Assembly president, Miguel Angel Martinez of Spain. The Parliamentary Assembly was also addressed by the head of the Croatian delegation, Zarko Domljan, and a member of the delegation, Bozo Kovacevic. (hina) vm jn 241647 MET apr 96