Foreign Minister says refugee return top priority for Croatia

VIENNA, 16 February 2004 - Croatian Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul today said that the new government in Zagreb was sincerely committed to implementing the highest international standards in the field of minority rights.

"At the top of our list of priorities, we have placed the unconditional return of all refugees, regardless of their ethnicity, and the return of their property," Dr Zuzul said, speaking at a special session of the OSCE's 55-nation Permanent Council in Vienna.

"All those wishing to return must be able to do so," he said. "My Government will continue to promote favourable conditions in this regard, and to facilitate this process."

Foreign Minister Zuzul called the Public Awareness Campaign jointly launched with the OSCE Mission in Croatia a "case-in-point" and said he was confident that co-operation with the Mission in many fields would prove successful.

He told the OSCE Ambassadors that his Government's key foreign policy priority was to join the EU and NATO and added:

"We are fully aware that respect for national minority rights, refugee return, judiciary reform, further development of the media, and many other actions are preconditions for the stable democratic development of our country."

Dr Zuzul informed the Permanent Council of Croatia's strategy on judiciary reforms. He said that anticipated reforms would complete the mechanism that will allow the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to transfer the first war crimes cases to the Croatian judiciary.

"We consider this step an important recognition of the independence and competence of our judiciary," he said.

Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul added that his Government intended to pursue legislative amendments regarding the Law on Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), which he said, "will prevent even the remote possibility of the exertion of political influence on the body's Board of Directors, thus making HRT completely independent from any political control or pressure."