CROATIA'S sugar scam left £ 700 , 000 sour taste
The Times (subscription), UK
The European Commission set up a preferential trade scheme to help sugar beet farmers in the Balkans to export their produce into the EU. ...

World Bank Urges Croatia to Press Ahead With Reforms 
            (World Bank, Dow Jones, HINA, Seerecon.org - 15/09/03) 
             Praising Croatia for its economic achievements thus far, the World Bank says the main challenges facing the country as it moves ahead are to deepen and accelerate reforms to promote competitiveness and raise living standards. Spurred on by market-oriented reform efforts and a surge in tourism, Croatia's GDP growth reached 5.2 per cent last year.
            "The enormous real output decline of (Croatia's) first war-torn years of independence has been virtually recuperated," Anand Seth, the Bank's new country director for South Central Europe (Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania), said during a meeting in Brussels on Monday (15 September). The meeting coincided with the release of a major new Bank study, dubbed the Croatia Country Economic Memorandum (CEM).
            Alongside the analysis of Croatia's economic achievements, the CEM provides reform and economic policy options to help the country achieve sustainable growth in line with its Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, which is the first step on a country's EU integration path. Sustainable development and compliance with the SAA will be critical for the country's integration into Europe, according to a joint statement by the Bank and the Croatian government.
            While citing the challenge to deepen reforms, enhance competitiveness and raise living standards, Seth urged the government to consolidate its "impressive" economic and social reform programme. "Croatia has made important progress in its process of integrating with the EU, and we hope the policy options canvassed in the study can facilitate in bringing the country closer to this goal," he added.
            The Bank is also calling for further reforms in the areas of fiscal policy and public administration, property and creditor rights, environment adjustment and education reform, and the legal system.
            "It is becoming more and more obvious that our strategy of increasing employment and living standards through fiscal consolidation, stable prices and reforms is yielding results, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said, citing an estimated growth of per capita income to over 5527 euros in 2003, compared to 4026 euros in 1999, and an expected increase in the employment rate of about 5 per cent.
            Quoting the World Bank study, Dow Jones noted that despite significant budget cuts, Croatia is among the countries with the largest public sectors and an unemployment rate of 15.2 per cent. The needed restructuring could push that figure higher.
            While agreeing with the measures prescribed by the Bank, Linic cautioned against haste. "We have a difficult job ahead of us," he cautioned. "The list of high- priority goals is a very ambitious list, but it is attainable."
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BRIDGE TO BE KEY LINK IN ZAGREB'S PLANS TO TREAT WASTEWATER
ZAGREB, Oct. 3 - Construction has begun on a Sava River bridge that will be an essential link in the Croatian capital's new wastewater treatment system, according to the Croatian Environmental Journalists Association.
Along with carrying traffic, the bridge will also be used to carry wastewater from the right bank of the Sava to a purification plant, which is to be finished in 2005.
The new wastewater treatment plant will use modern techniques and should remove 85-90 percent of harmful substances from Zagreb's wastewater, while producing about 63,000 cubic metres of mud every year.
Development of the EUR 160-180 million wastewater system is being handled by a firm called Zagreb Wastewater, which is a partnership of the German WTE Wasserteknik, RWA Aqua from Essen and Zagrebacka vodoprivreda.
The firm, which was chosen from among 17 bidders, is to receive a concession for 28 years. During the period of construction, residents of Zagreb will pay an average of EUR 6 more per month in sewage fees. When the wastewater purification plant is finished, the cost for using one cubic metre of water will rise from CKN 0.9 (EUR 0.12) to CKN 2.24 (EUR 0.3), according to the Croatian Environmental Journalists Association.
Currently, Zagreb does not have wastewater treatment, but developing a system is one of the requirements Croatia must meet in order to achieve European Union accession and in order to comply with the Helsinki Convention for the Protection of the Danube River, an agreement to which Croatia is a signatory.
Construction of the new Sava River bridge is projected to take two years and cost EUR 24 million, according to the Croatian Environmental Journalists Association. It is one of six facilities being constructed as part of the overall wastewater treatment system.
In the past, objections have been raised to the high cost of the project, and some experts have called for using another means of paying, rather than a 28-year concession. There have been several round-table discussions about the question, but they were without concrete results, and the city government apparently has no intention of changing its plans for the project.
--Zlatko Domljan, Croatian Environmental Journalists Association, <domljan@vip.hr>

The European Investment Bank, the long term loan institution within the EU is to grant 20 million euros to Croatia Control Ltd to undertake work that aims to improve the efficiency, security and abilities of air traffic services in Croatia.
http://www.bei.org

Resignation
Ivica Racan the Prime Minister resigned because of dissension within the ruling 5 party coalition. The President of the Social Democrat party (SDP) intimated that he was ready to take the lead of a new coalition without the Social Liberal Party (HSLS) "if he had the support of the President, Stipe Mesic".
www.afp.com

JOURNALISTS PROTEST TV MANAGEMENT
Members of the Forum 21 association of electronic media journalists called for a review of the process by which editors are selected for Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported from Zagreb on 21 June. The journalists stressed that one of the reasons for the poor state of affairs in HRT is that management does not respect its own rules in appointing editors.

Croatia and Ukraine signed a military co-operation agreement. This involves the modernisation of the Croatian MiG21 and the purchase of MI-24 helicopters from Ukraine.
http://www.vecernji-list.hr/2002/06/03/index.html

According to a survey, 47% of Croats would like to see the normalisation of relations between their country and Yugoslavia, 29% are against. Likewise 42% are in favour of a reciprocal lifting of visas whilst 38% are against. But 85% think "that Yugoslavia should pay" for war damages.
http://www.dpa.de

NO LONGER A 'PROBLEM' COUNTRY? Zdravko Tomac, who led Zagreb's delegation to the winter session of the OSCE, said 22 February that "Croatia is no longer being mentioned as a problem in Southeastern Europe but as an important factor that can help solve crises in the neighborhood," Hina reported. Tomac said his government thinks the OSCE should reduce, then discontinue, its mission to Croatia as soon as possible. Another delegation member, Ivan Milas, added that "the greatest success of our policy is that nobody is mentioning us in particular."
("RFE/RL Newsline," 25 February)