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After European Snub, Croatia Promises to Become More Democratic
By Mark Heinrich
"The Republic of Croatia confirms its commitment to the process of democratic development, thereby respecting the
Council of Europe's criteria and norms," a Croatian Foreign Ministry statement said. Croatia expected further urgent and meaningful consultations with the Secretariat of the Council and member states so that they would reconsider Croatia's case in the immediate future.
It did not say what steps the government might take to satisfy the Council, concerned by a fresh campaign by Tudjman to muzzle critical media and his dissolution of a new opposition-led city council in the capital Zagreb. Foreign Minister Mate Granic was quoted by the state news agency HINA as saying the Zagreb political crisis would be solved with new regional elections. "We will respect the result of new elections," he said.
Granic asserted that the media, aside from state television, were free. But analysts say all major media aside from one daily newspaper and a few weeklies are tightly controlled by Tudjman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.
According to Council sources, conditions for admitting Croatia included the acceptance of a democratically-based
mayoralty in Zagreb, cooperation with a U.N. tribunal seeking a handover of Croats indicted for war atrocities, and a pledge to allow the return of minority Serb war refugees to homes in Croatia.
Croatia has a democratic constitution but Tudjman's HDZ, which led the nation to independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, used an ensuing state of war with rebel Serbs to take over key institutions, including much of the media and judiciary. But military victory in 1995 removed the HDZ's pretext for monolithic rule, and latent discontent about official corruption and economic mismanagement bubbled to the surface. That led to an upset opposition victory in elections for the Zagreb capital district council last autumn.
Polls point to a steep decline in HDZ popularity ahead of countrywide municipal elections followed by a presidential vote by mid-1997. "During the war we supported a style of rule where power was concentrated in the hands of one man. We consciously yielded some democratic institutions because the state was in peril," said Zdravko Tomac of the opposition Social Democrats. "But Tudjman thinks that even in peace one party and one man should rule. They have created a situation where a transfer of power is presented as something that would ruin Croatia."
Croatia covets membership in the Council because it is the antechamber to the European Union, whose investment is needed to rebuild a Croatian economy prostrated by four years of war. Of the ex-Yugoslav republics, Slovenia and Macedonia won Council membership after creating credible democracies without serious armed conflict. Bosnia has special guest status while rump Yugoslavia — Serbia and Montenegro — has no status.
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ZAGREB, May 16 (Reuters) — Croatia promised on Thursday to meet standards of democracy demanded by the Council of Europe after the key Western body shelved Zagreb's membership bid over President Franjo Tudjman's autocratic ruling style. After two days of silence, his nationalist government expressed "regret" about the decision of the 39-state Council on Tuesday to put Croatia's application on indefinite hold after indicating last month that it would be approved.
Berserkistan, May 16 · Europe's Rejection of Croatia Dismays Croats Seeking Democracy
Berserkistan, May 14 · Civil Liberties Crackdown Delays Croatia's European Plans
Berserkistan, May 10 · Croatia Accuses Its Human Rights Chief
Berserkistan, May 9 · Croatia Blamed for Human Rights Abuses
Berserkistan, May 8 · Croatia Charges Journalists with Libeling Tudjman
Republic of Croatia, Office of the President
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