Croatia's president Tudjman is 'in love with the Americans.
He is a kind of person who loves to have powerful friends'
ZAGREB, March 1 (Reuters) — Croatia is relying increasingly for diplomatic support on the United States rather than Western Europe because Washington delivers while the Europeans seem to hesitate or pose unrealistic conditions for aid, analysts say.Diplomats say Zagreb's pursuit of U.S. backing on key policy issues has to do with Washington's emergence as the lead peacemaker in Europe's backyard, after it roped recalcitrant ethnic combatants into settlements in both Croatia and Bosnia.
"It's a reflection of U.S. leadership in pushing the peace process in old Yugoslavia," said a diplomat, noting how U.S. mediators employing NATO muscle achieved in weeks what European Union envoys failed to do in four years.
In a recent crisis over the ethnically divided town of Mostar, the United States achieved a quick diplomatic breakthrough while even Germany, Croatia's staunchest ally in Europe, could not come up with the goods. The crisis arose when Mostar's EU administrator, Hans Koschnick, made a surprise ruling on municipal boundaries that called for a larger central zone with shared Croat-Muslim power than Croat negotiators were ready to accept.
In subsequent street riots that prompted strong EU protests, Mostar Croats trapped Koschnick in his armoured car for an hour, stoning and shooting at it. He was unhurt. But the Croatian position was vindicated days later at an Rome summit aimed at reaffirming peace commitments made by Muslim, Croat and Serb factions in former Yugoslavia.
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman won a big concession from Bosnia's Muslim-led government when it accepted, under U.S. pressure, a considerable reduction in size of the "Koschnick zone" despite EU support for his original plan. Koschnick, his authority undermined by the Rome agreement, resigned on February 26 but will stay until he is replaced.
Tudjman later accused "certain European circles" of deliberately creating a Croat-Muslim confrontation over Mostar by giving Koschnick a green light for his contentious ruling. Analysts said that instead of reconsidering the Croatian position on Mostar's boundaries, the EU stood fast by Koschnick, trying to persuade Tudjman to rein in his Bosnian Croat proteges to accept the plan without negotiations. Foreign ministers Susanna Agnelli of Italy and Klaus Kinkel of Germany failed in that mission.
"It is no secret that we turned to the Americans on the Mostar issue," said a senior Croatian official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted Zagreb's choice of partner was purely pragmatic and did not reflect any long-term political split from Europe.
"There was nothing personal in it. It was motivated by the need of the moment. We told the Europeans: 'Come up with an idea and we'll listen to you.'"
A Western diplomat confirmed that Croatia was resorting increasingly to U.S. assistance when the EU fell short. "Tudjman is in love with the Americans. He is a kind of person who loves to have powerful friends, and the Americans have realised they can manipulate him," the diplomat said.
Analysts say the EU is now losing influence over Croatia by prolonging consideration of its admission to the Council of Europe and access to various aid projects, including the PHARE programme for rebuilding east European economies.
In seeking Western links since its 1992 recognition as an independent state after breaking from Yugoslavia, Croatia has run into EU doubt -- even disdain -- over its human rights record and flawed transition from communism to democracy.
The EU was alienated by the Croats' 1993 war to absorb part of Bosnia, their 1995 offensive that retook separatist land in Croatia and drove out 200,000 minority Serbs, and Tudjman's autocratic nationalist style of rule, which continues today. Tudjman built some bridges with the EU by signing peace accords on Bosnia drawn up in Dayton, Ohio, last November and accepting a new U.N. mission to restore the last bit of Serb-held land in Croatia to Zagreb's rule without further war.
But the continued cautious EU approach to Croatia's bid for EU integration and aid is wearing thin on Croats who feel they can never do enough to please Brussels. "Just a little bit more of this playing around and we will lose interest in those programmes, PHARE for instance," said the Croatian official. "What we need is one or two good tourist seasons, and it will become irrelevant."
Croatia's tourist industry on the Adriatic coast was the main hard currency earner in Serbian-led federal Yugoslavia until 1991. Even Germany, an historical ally instrumental in winning Croatia international recognition, fell from grace here last summer when Kinkel warned Croats not to launch war over U.N. truce lines against Serbs who were avoiding good-faith talks.
Tudjman, fed up with years of Western pressure to be patient, unleashed his army anyway. In only a week of fighting Zagreb recouped 25 percent of its territory and cornered the dominant Serb war faction in neighbouring Bosnia. The result was the Dayton peace accords.
Washington welcomed the Croatian offensive because it achieved a long-elusive balance of ethnic power that ended fighting in the Balkans whereas the EU, Croats complained, chose to dwell on Croatian human-rights abuses.
Croats see a lingering pro-Serb bias in the stance of the EU, recalling its initial futile attempts to keep Yugoslavia together, then inaction as Serb forces attacked Croatia and Bosnia after their people voted for independence.
Berserkistan is the world news service of
Berserkistan's Coverage of Mostar
Welcome to Zagreb
Welcome to Croatia
Pacific Interactive Media Corp.
EMail Berserkistan
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved
