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Zagreb Ready to Normalize Relations with Belgrade
Granic reaffirmed Zagreb's wish for normal ties with Belgrade after a warning by the European Union this month that the countries of old Yugoslavia must cooperate with each other before they will qualify for EU links. "An example of good relations are those between (ex-Yugoslav republics) Macedonia and Croatia," Granic said in remarks carried by state television during talks with Macedonian leaders in Skopje.
"But we are prepared to normalise relations with Belgrade based on mutual recognition. We have also proposed an agreement on bilateral protection of minorities, but clearly without any preconditions," he said, without elaborating.
Croatia has also forged normal relations with the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia and Slovenia. But Croatia and Bosnia have no diplomatic ties with rump Yugoslavia, a legacy of the enmity caused by devastating wars with the Yugoslav army and allied local Serbs who fought to prevent secession of both states from the Balkan federation.
One major obstacle to normal Croatian and Slovene relations with Yugoslavia is Belgrade's determination to be recognised as the sole legal successor to old Yugoslavia, which would mean entitlement to properties and assets. Slovenia and Croatia, which were the wealthiest republics in old Yugoslavia, argue that all former Yugoslav republics must share in the rights of succession.
Other open questions between Belgrade and Zagreb include the treatment of Serbs in a separatist minority enclave of Croatia now being "reintegrated" under U.N. supervision, and Serbian interest in Croatia's Prevlaka peninsula which commands access to rump Yugoslavia's only naval base.
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ZAGREB, June 17 (Reuters) - Foreign Minister Mate Granic said on Monday that Croatia was ready to normalise relations with Serbian-led rump Yugoslavia from which it declared independence five years ago. The Croatian government has expressed willingness before to bury the hatchet with Serbia but expectations that diplomatic relations would resume following two 1995 peace treaties on former Yugoslavia have not been realised.
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