DOES CROATIA NEED EUROPE?

AIM, ZAGREB, April 25, 1996

Only a formal "YES" of the Council of Minister is necessary for Croatia to become, probably in mid May, 40th permanent member of the Council of Europe. Thus Belarus, Armenia, FR Yugoslavia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be the only ones remaining outside this organization. For three years and a half Croatia was endeavouring to join this oldest European integration, and although it caught the last but one train, the fact that the scenario according to which Croatia would be admitted in the same package with FR Yugoslavia and B&H, as once forecast by renown opposition officials did not prove true, is considered here a major diplomatic victory. There are those who will also remind that the claim that Croatia actually did not want to join Europe also did not prove true. Is it so, and what does the admittance of Croatia really mean?

For a long time Croatia waited in the waiting room as new conditions were constantly being introduced, until President Tudjman demanded: "Give me the list of requirements and I will sign it in blank". And that is how that infamous 21st condition came into being, which Tudjman and Dr.Vlatko Pavletic, President of the Parliament signed, although in a slightly revised form. This points to the conclusion that wrong are those who blame the Croatian authorities for only pretending that they zealously wanted to join Europe, especially if we know that Foreign Minister Dr.Mate Granic travelled around half Europe lobbying for Croatia's addmittance. Also, Tudjman invested great efforts so as to put his hawks at ease so that they would vote in favour of the law on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, which was the main precondition for membership. However, this still does not annul the opinion prevailing even within the ranks of the ruling party, as well as the authorities: "What do we need Europe for?

Is there any other explanation for the fact that only a month and a half after the "List 21" was made up, so many serious fouls were committed against the democracy that Dr.Zarko Domljan, Vice-President of the Parliament and head of the Croatian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly, kept his guard and warned that it will be over only when it is really over.

The President of the Republic refused to confirm the appointment of Drazen Budisa, the fourth elected Lord-Mayor of Zagreb, without offering any explanation whatsoever, clinging to his stance that HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) has won the elections as it has a relative majority in the Assembly, and that the "opposition situation" in Zagreb would destabilize the state. The appointed Lady-Mayor Marina Dropulic-Matulovic did not resign although the Assembly twice carried a no-confidence motion, while the Government annulled the decision on the adoption of the city budget although the procedure was regular and in accordance with the law.

At the same time, attempts are made at whitewashing both Council of Europe and the domestic public with stories of how Zagreb as well as similar crises will be solved with the adoption of a new law on local government and self-government. Domljan, who thinks that experts of the Council of Europe are blind, even presented this fact in Strasbourg as evidence that Croatia is on its way of fulfilling the twenty-first condition. However, on that occasion he forgot to mention that according to that new law, which already had its first parliamentary reading, lord-mayors and district-prefects will be appointed by the government or minister of administration, which means that there will be nothing left of the little remaining self-government.

And these are not the reasons for which the Council of Europe asked for the definition of competences of lord-mayors and district-prefects. The reasons were quite different so that it is not by accident that it now demanded that its experts be first consulted before the law was submitted for the second reading before the Parliament. New electoral law is also announced, but again with revisions which are not in line with the Strasbourg objections to the existing one. They are such so as to improve even more the election engineering to the benefit of the ruling party. That the authorities have not accepted remarks on the suspicious explanation on the basis of which disapora elects as much as 12 representatives to the Parliament, is attested to by the fact that the bill on referendum envisages voting rights also for that part of Croatia which has long ago emigrated.

The Assembly has adopted amendments to the Criminal Code according to which public prosecutors (state attorneys) may on their own, with a written approval, institute proceedings for insult to and defamation of the Presidents of the Republic, Parliament, Government, Constitutional and Supreme Courts, and amendments on prosecuting all those who disclose state secret, although the law on state secret has not yet been adopted.

Behind such legal regulations lies an obvious intention to discipline papers and journalists. This is corroborated by attacks launched on "Novi List" (New Paper) and "Glas Istre" (Voice of Istria) with the aim of financially ruining them with the imposition on legally unfounded taxes and duties. In an interview given several days ago President Tudjman clearly made it known who was actually behind this intention. After this interview it was equally clear that, after his intervention, the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Zagreb instituted charges against editor-in-chief of the weekly "Nacional" for having published an article claiming that poor state of equipment at the Dubrovnik Airport was the cause of the crash of the American plane in which US Trade Minister Brown lost his life.

That the authorities are not satisfied with the media purge carried out so far, and it is estimated that about 400 journalists lost their jobs since 1991, is shown by the example of "Vijesnik" (Herald) whose new editor-in-chief Nenad Ivankovic is dispensing notices of dismissal left and right, justifying it with editorial concept. The firing of Franjo Kiseljak, parliamentary reporter of many years and doyen of the Croatian journalism, caused greatest storm of protests with as much as forty of his colleagues raising their voices and even Secretary to the Cabinet of the President of Parliament signing the petition of protest. To make the picture complete, i.e. crazier, Prime Minister Mr.Zlatko Matesa stated that Kiseljak was a journalist who best followed the work of the government, and editor-in-chief of the Croatian TV said that she would offer Kiseljak a job.

Furthermore, the Government prohibited the referendum in Istria regarding the construction of thermo-electrical power plant "Plomin II", which IDS (Istrian Democratic Union) strongly opposes, as does the majority of population of this tourist peninsula. Information that a man accused of war crimes received acknowledgment of the Karlovac District Assembly and before that a high decoration of the President of the Republic are cited as self-incriminating moves of the authorities.

And what can be said regarding the bugging affair and evidence presented by "Nacional", after which two journalists were taken in for informative talk, while no denials to the effect that there was no bugging were issued by Ivan Jarnjak, Minister of the Interior. Neither that same Minister denied that respectable farmers and leaders of the HSS (Croatian Peasant Party) were brought in for interrogation after protesting by blocking border crossings.

And when all put together, and suspicious circumstances under which former Minister of Tourism Marcelo Popovic was murdered, beating up of the Sarajevo band "Zabranjeno pusenje" (No Smoking) and many other "petty" sins are added, the question arises: Who is actually behind all this? Naturally, it would be impossible to lay all these sins at Tudjman's door, although it is known that he has all the power in Croatia. That is why even Zarko Domljan confessed in Strasbourg that he was aware that executive authority has become too independent. Clearly, the Croatian President signs one thing and does quite the opposite. Namely, how does he manage to discipline his representatives when it comes to the Hague law but, doesn't even try to when it comes to the violation of elementary democratic procedures?

Obviously, the Croatian policy is now firmly seated in the American lap, albeit Tudjman lightly disregarded Warren Christopher's criticism of his obscure idea of Jasenovac as the monument of reconciliation. At this moment Europe is but a reserve alternative. Croatia is increasingly posing as an American transatlantic dependency, which Gojko Susak, Defence Minister, did not even try to hide. In his interview to the "Vjesnik" he said: "There is no country in Europe, no matter how dominant in this region, which could be able to fully protect our interests if it sided with us". And it was President Tudjman who further clarified the situation by stating that "the notion of individual foreign ministers presenting ideas on bringing together parties with a view to toppling democratically elected authorities sets an unprecedented example in the history of international relations". He also added "that he will have to speak of this publicly, but in good time".

Tudjman spoke of this as of some great secret, although it was clear he was actually referring to Klaus Kinkel who invited Croatian opposition leaders to visit Bonn between May 6-9, at the expense of an institute.

Well, thus has Germany to which Croatia sang "Danke Deutschland" and which erected a monument to Kinkel's predecessor Gensher became an adversary. That is precisely why, together with many other justified reasons, the admission of Croatia to Council of Europe should be also observed as an attempt on the part of Europe to put Croatia back to its place. In addition, Council of Europe has at its disposal sufficient power and means to warn Croatia that membership is not only an acknowledgment, but also an obligation.

GOJKO MARINKOVIC