Inside File: Zagreb hand in the EC plan for Mostar
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Your support makes all the difference.YESTERDAY in Zagreb, the ambassadors of Germany and France joined in a common demarche to deliver by hand a letter to the President of Croatia. Half of it was dedicated to one subject: Paris and Bonn endorsed Lord's Owen proposal for the European Community to administer the Bosnian city of Mostar.
That Germany should thus pretend to be jollying President Franjo Tudjman along on this issue holds a double irony. It was Lord Owen who last week publicly voiced the idea of the EC supervising Mostar; but privately, diplomats reveal, the suggestion came at the express insistence of Mr Tudjman himself - because he wants a representative of Germany, his traditional ally, to run the city.
Mr Tudjman has not forgotten that it was Chancellor Helmut Kohl who forced the rest of the EC to recognise his republic 18 months ago - also forcing, as it turned out, the Bosnians to declare themselves independent too, the consequences of which we are to live with for a long time yet. Mr Kohl's drive, while following the historical bonds between Germany and Croatia, was also accelerated by domestic pressure from the Bavarian-based Roman Catholic lobby in the CSU, one of the three parties in his coalition.
Mr Tudjman hopes that a German will be appointed to the task of what Lord Owen defines as 'the EC administrator' of Mostar. Others do not disagree. A British diplomat said: 'If we can find the right kind of German to do the job, it would probably be a very good idea.'
Were the UN to administer the city, as is proposed for Sarajevo, the German voice would be missing. Britain and France - as permanent members of the Security Council and by far the biggest contributors of UN troops in Bosnia - are held by Zagreb to be anti-Croat: 'They are like parents with two children, one very good and one very bad,' said a Croatian diplomat. 'And they're always pressuring the good one - us - to be even better.'
And so it was that last week, when Lord Owen saw things going irrevocably wrong over Sarajevo at the negotiating table, that the prospect opened of progress over Mostar. Accommodating Mr Tudjman over the EC proposal was a way of gaining his co-operation on other matters; given that Bonn has publicly stood up for the Muslims since its ill-conceived recognition of Croatia, the plan was also readily accepted by the Muslims. The document subsequently issued by Lord Owen - without consultation with his employers, the Twelve - was described by one diplomat as 'liberally sprinkled with references to the EC' - nine across six paragraphs.
'The point here is that Lord Owen faced a very serious situation in the negotiations as Mostar unfolded,' said a diplomat. 'It became clear that it was in the same category as Sarajevo. The EC being involved made sense - after all they've been present from the start through the EC Monitoring Mission - the men in white.'
A veteran of the Bosnia conflict described the EC monitors - mostly retired diplomats in white overalls - as reminiscent of Rene, the perpetually distraught restaurateur trying to run a French resistance cell from his cafe in 'Allo 'Allo]. A French analyst said the proposal of an EC administration was 'ridiculous and logical'.
A diplomat at the Quai d'Orsay was asked if the French endorsement had anything to do with the fact that today, the French Prime Minister goes to Bonn for a Franco-German summit that he hopes will help heal the rifts in the indispensable Bonn-Paris alliance. 'Not at all,' he protested. 'Even the English have come out in favour of this one.'
The French diplomat was being excessively liberal with the truth. While Paris on Monday became the first capital to volunteer publicly a welcome for the proposal, London has not. The plan is still being considered by ministers and it is expected the EC presidency may stick to a 'silence procedure' - whereby if no member-state objects by a set deadline, it will go ahead. Meanwhile, observers are speculating whether the next town up for international rule will go to Efta.
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