Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Apparently, now Croatia and Serbia are trying to become buddies, even though isn't C suing S for reparations--or is that only Bosnia?


REGION: Press Points Out Sanader’s Support To Serbia’s EU Aspirations
2006-07-24 20:58:48
The Serbian press on Saturday extensively reported about Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's visit to Belgrade on Friday and underlined his support to Serbia's efforts to integrate with Europe. The front-pages of dailies 'Politika and 'Danas' carried headlines "Sanader's Thumbs Up for Serbia", and the papers quoted the Croatian premier's statement about his country's being supportive of Serbia's efforts to carry out its plans and sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union by the end of this year. Politika cited a statement that Serbia and Croatia "share a belief in a united Europe" adding that Sanader and his Serbian host, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, "expressed firm commitment to European values". Danas reported about Sanader's visit to the ethnic Croat community living in the northern city of Subotica in the province of Vojvodina. According to the daily, Sanader congratulated "the Serb minority in Croatia and the Croat minority in Serbia for their mutual cooperation". The "Vecernje Novosti" daily ran a headline "Now Together To Europe" and cited Sanader as saying that a solution for (the UN-administered province of) Kosovo cannot be imposed. The newspaper assessed that the relations between Serbia and Croatia were growing better. The most important thing for the paper are conclusions from the talks of the two premiers that Serbia and Croatia share a joint future in a united Europe and that the past must not be forgotten but the future must be built on stable foundations of mutual respect and cooperation. The Blic paper carried a short news item headlined "Sanader in Belgrade" on its second page. It also quoted Sanader as saying "'we are keeping our fingers crossed for Serbia that it signs agreement over stabilization and association with EU until the end of the year. The "Glas Javnosti" paper carried a front-page article about the joint inauguration of the renovated border crossing Bajakovo-Batkovci under the headline "The Border-Crossing for Cooperation without Borders" A former ambassador of Serbia-Montenegro in Zagreb, Milan Simurdic, wrote an article in his column in the Danas, commenting on Sanader's visit. Recalling the days when he started his ambassadorial term in late 2001, Simurdic wrote about visa requirements which were in place at the time and rare traffic at the joint border. "Our (Belgrade's) decision to abolish visas and the initial 'restrained' suspension of visas by the Croatian side were a decisive step forward in the bilateral relations," the diplomat wrote. Commenting on the chronology of recent visits and meetings by officials of the two countries, Simurdic added that "it is nice to see how the relations are being promoted... A test for our foreign policy is our relations with the neighbours." The same ambitions about Euro-Atkantic integrations and the identical goals of Belgrade and Zagreb in foreign affairs are a framework guaranteeing that the relations will be further fostered, Simurdic wrote. He commended Sanader for having visited the ethnic Croat community in Subotica, but added that he also expected a visit to refugees who left Croatia and are now living in Serbia. Source: Hina
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=62089&LangID=1

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