Minister of Justice Ana Lovrin of Croatia
Lovrin said Zagreb’s cooperation with the tribunal has been good and full.
There are no political obstacles for Slovene nationals wishing to buy real estate in Croatia," Lovrin said answering questions by Slovene deputies in the European Parliament Lojze Peterle and Jelko Kacin.
Lovrin said that the right of foreign nationals to buy real estate in Croatia was regulated by a law which envisaged reciprocity and that EU nationals were not being discriminated against.
As for Slovenia, which last year adopted a law on the right of citizens from EU candidate- countries to buy real estate, Lovrin said this law was new in the sense that it envisaged determining reciprocity in each individual case.
Speaking of refugees' right to claim back their property, Lovrin said that Croatia had financed the reconstruction of houses from the government budget and that only three such cases remained unsolved.
Lovrin said that Croatian was the official language in Croatia and that she hoped that Croatian would become one of the EU's official languages once Croatia joined the bloc.
Minister Lovrin said that the two countries were participating in some joint projects that were giving positive results, such as alternative settlement of disputes at the Zagreb Commercial Court, which Minister Ashton is to visit on Thursday, and assistance to the Judicial Academy.
Lovrin said that she informed Ashton of the judicial reform in Croatia, the use of European funding, and projects that were being implemented as part of the process of accession to the EU.
Zagreb, 29 March: The authorities' political will and determination are crucial for suppressing corruption and with its draft national programme for the suppression of corruption the government has shown strong political will to suppress corruption in Croatia, Justice Minister Ana Lovrin said in parliament on Wednesday presenting the document.
Lovrin said a successful fight against corruption was Croatia's national interest and that the programme's goal was to reduce corruption to a level which would not halt economic, social, political or any other form of development.
Lovrin said the most important part of the national programme was the prevention of corruption, namely systemic action at all levels which would result in the timely uncovering and punishment of all manifestations of corruption.
In the economy, Lovrin said it was necessary to ensure free market competition and examine the privatization of the state portfolio and the public procurement system.
Lovrin said the Justice Ministry and the State Prosecutor's Office should be more engaged in uncovering and punishing corruption.
a way to overcome the problem without changing their constitutions.
Lovrin was in charge of parliaments judiciary committee and had never been in government.
Lovrin said there was still a possibility that Radic might be tried in Croatia or Serbia.
Justice Minister Ana Lovrin said the implementation of the anti-corruption action plan in the 2006-08 period had yielded good results, as affirmed by Transparency International's grade last year, the best Croatia was given since 1999.
Lovrin said the draft plan would define more clearly the authority of the National Council monitoring corruption suppression measures.
Croatian Justice Minister Ana Lovrin is scheduled to address the Committee on March 20.
Croatian Justice Minister Ana Lovrin said Croatia and Serbia had found a way to overcome the problem without changing their constitutions.
Justice Minister Ana Lovrin said earlier that Croatia had cut the number of backlog cases by 30 percent last year to about a million, while the number of reported corruption cases in 2006 increased by 120 percent.