Honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia

Recommendation 1473 (2000)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 26 September 2000 (26th Sitting) (see Doc. 8823, report of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe, co-rapporteurs: Mr Jaskiernia and Mrs Stoyanova). Text adopted by the Assembly on 26 September 2000 (26thSitting).

Thesaurus

1. The Assembly refers to its Resolution 1223 (2000) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Croatia in which it:

1.1 welcomes the significant progress Croatia has made towards honouring its commitments and obligations as a member state since its accession to the Council of Europe on 6 November 1996 and, in particular, since the parliamentary and presidential elections held at the beginning of 2000;

1.2 commends the current President of the Republic, government and parliament for having radically improved within a few months Croatia’s record regarding implementation of the Dayton and Erdut Agreements, and having thus promoted stability and security in Southeastern Europe;

1.3 considers the current monitoring procedure as closed; it will carry out its post-monitoring dialogue with the Croatian authorities on the issues referred to in paragraph 3 of the aforementioned resolution, or any other issue arising from the obligations of Croatia as a member state of the Council of Europe, with a view to reopening the procedure in accordance with Resolution 1115 (1997), if further clarification or enhanced co-operation should seem desirable;

1.4 urges the international community to keep its promises and ensure that financial assistance is granted rapidly to Croatia;

1.5 welcomes the projects of economic assistance recently approved in the framework of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, other European Union programmes and the Council of Europe Development Bank.

2. It recommends that the Committee of Ministers:

2.1 verify progress made in the implementation of recommendations contained in paragraph 3 of Assembly Resolution 1223 (2000) in the framework of its own monitoring procedure when dealing with the relevant themes;

2.2 help the Croatian authorities in the framework of its programmes of co-operation and assistance, in particular in the fields of administration of justice, freedom of the media, protection of minority rights and return of refugees and displaced persons;

2.3 invite the member states to step up financial assistance to Croatia in the framework of the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe in order to contribute to the cost of reconstruction and sustainable development in the areas of return.