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Drawing Closer To EU Will Help Strengthen Croatia-SCG Relations-Croatian PM |
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Wednesday, 23 November 2005The road to the EU will accelerate all processes and solve all outstanding issues between Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro (SCG), Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in Tuesday's interview with the Serbian news agency Tanjug ahead of his Serbian counterpart Vojislav Kostunica's visit to Zagreb.
Kostunica arrives on Wednesday and is the first Serbian PM to visit Croatia since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
"I've heard assessments that relations are stagnating, but I don't agree. Both Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro were focused on home tasks, primarily regarding progress towards the European Union. So, it's not a question of stagnation, but of a quality step forward on both Croatia's and Serbia's part. And we can never view this separately from the overall situation, from bilateral relations," said Sanader.
Tanjug quoted him as saying that the road to the EU was a significant catalyst and in many ways an engine of further development and progress "because, how will we cooperate with the European Union's 18 states if we can't cooperate here in this part of Europe"?
Speaking of people gone missing during the 1990s war, Sanader underlined that the issue of about 700 missing Croatian Serbs "absolutely deserves" equal attention as the need to shed light on each of the 1,142 missing Croats.
"Every missing member of a family is a tragedy for that family and the state has the responsibility to help arrive at the truth on each victim. A family is entitled to the truth. That's our key task," said Sanader.
He added that at this moment it would not be good to formally link the two lists of missing persons because of the risk of human tragedies becoming politicised.
Sanader also commented on Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) figures on 300,000 Serbs leaving Croatia since 1995, 120,000 returning and only 40 per cent staying, as well as assessments that these figures indicated that the Croatian government's policy on the return or refugees and displaced persons was for "external use" and not the result of a genuine commitment to settle those issues.
"If the OSCE report was read objectively, I think it would say, 'The Croatian government does not have any problems. For it, that is no longer a political issue, but a question of organisation and financing, a technical issue if you will'."
Sanader also underlined that the government's attitude was not at the forefront, but every man's personal choice to live where he wanted, and that the state must respect his decision, in accordance with the Dayton peace agreement.
"What never comes into question is private property. Private property is absolutely unquestionable. And in this sense we have succeeded in resolving all but a few cases."
Sanader said he expected Kostunica to help solve the issue of Croats who left Serbia-Montenegro, primarily the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, because of political pressure, threats and incidents.
"If a Croat wants to return there, he should be enabled to do so. That's one universal rule that stands for all," he said.
"The task of us all in this region is to rise above traumas, to try to jump over our shadow. And this is something I will certainly discuss with Prime Minister Kostunica."
Sanader condemned the fire that was recently again set to the premises of the Serb cultural society Prosvjeta in Split as an incident which was not conducive to normalisation and tolerance.
"I don't want to be a prophet of doom, but we certainly won't be free of such incidents for some time yet. We can't pretend there was no war or victims."
Sanader said part of the reason for the poor cultural cooperation between Croatia and Serbia was the need to "overcome the wounds" and the time necessary for it.
"Culture is more sensitive than the economy," he said, adding that economic indicators reflected an increased trade.
Regarding the status of Kosovo, Sanader said a solution would not be possible without Belgrade. "That's a very logical way of thinking, as well as of action."
Asked about the possible settlement of Belgrade-Podgorica relations, he underlined that the Montenegrin political leadership had the legitimate right to organise a referendum on independence.
"I want to say this very clearly. We don't want to meddle in political processes in the state union, but we will respect democratically adopted decisions," Sanader said, adding that democratic processes should not be stopped by undemocratic methods.
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Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Croatian News Agency-HINA
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