BRUSSELS, Monday
THE EC, under growing pressure from Germany, agreed tonight to speed
up recognition of the breakaway Yugoslavian republics, Croatia and
Slovenia.
0 The 12 EC Foreign Ministers agreed on a process for recognition of
independence claims. An EC commission will study them, and if it finds
that the republics obey basic human rights criteria, they will be
awarded automatic independence.
The criteria, based on a French proposal, include whether there is
democratic rule, whether human rights are respected, and whether ethnic
minorities are safe.
However, the Germans made it clear they will proceed with recognition
of Slovenia and Croatia anyway.
It appeared a tortuous compromise on recognition of the Yugoslav
republics in an attempt to avoid an embarrassing rift within days of the
Maastricht summit.
All Yugoslav republics are now invited to apply for recognition by
next Monday.
Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd said that disagreement among the EC
countries would damage both the Community and the chances of peace in
Yugoslavia.
''It wasn't easy, but we have reached agreement,'' he added. ''We have
conditional recognition of independence, with implementation in
mid-January.
''It is likely that Croatia and Slovenia will be recognised, I
wouldn't like to say when.''
Mr Hurd admitted that the move contained risks if Serbia responds by
rejecting the peace process and stepping up the factional fighting for
territorial control in Croatia.
''There are risks. No one can guarantee that the steps taking by the
Community will bring about peace in Yugoslavia. This is a very difficult
and dangerous process for the people of Yugoslavia. We cannot guarantee
against these dangers,'' he said.
But Mr Hurd said he did not believe that Serbia wished or was able to
''continue indefinitely in defiance of the world''.
Earlier, Lord Carrington, who has been trying to broker peace
negotiations among the warring factions, had warned the EC Ministers
that premature recognition of Croatia will lead to more violence. He
said that it might also threaten the lives of EC monitors in Yugoslavia.
''The danger is that by being bullied into a deal by the Germans, the
EC Foreign Ministers will make matters worse, not better,'' said a
Common Market diplomat. ''This is not a deal of which the EC can be
proud.''
Germany had promised to recognise Croatia and Slovenia before
Christmas, a pledge aimed at isolating Serbia, but which ran against the
opinions of Britain, the United Nations, United States and most of
Bonn's other EC partners.
Since June, thousands of people have been killed in fighting between
Croatian forces and Croatia's Serbian minority, supported by Serbia and
the Serb-led federal army.
The majority EC view was that early recognition could fan the
conflict, widen it to parts of Yugoslavia so far unaffected and dash UN
efforts to send in a peacekeeping force.
But Bonn, its room for manoeuvre limited by the repeated public
pledges by Chancellor Helmut Kohl and other officials, had threatened to
break ranks and recognise Croatia and Slovenia next Thursday.
''It would be unfair to recognise Croatia on Thursday and then say (to
the UN), 'you have 24 hours to send in your peace keeping force','' said
a spokesman for the EC's Dutch presidency.
The compromise worked out means ''conditional recognition'' -- a
deliberately vague term -- could be granted on Monday, two days before
Christmas and early enough to allow Bonn to say its pledges had been
fulfilled.
But real recognition by the other EC states would wait until
mid-January, by which time a UN force might be in place to enforce an
effective ceasefire and EC officials would be able to certify whether
the two republics met the criteria.
Earlier, Germany brushed aside pleas from the UN and pressure from
fellow EC countries to insist it would give full diplomatic recognition
to both of the breakaway republics.
German government officials, speaking at a congress of Chancellor
Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU) in Dresden, said Bonn would go
ahead with the controversial step even if its main European ally France
does not support it.
''If we agree with the French, we will have a conditional
recognition,'' said one official. ''If not, we'll just go ahead and
recognise them.''
The decision would come at Thursday's Cabinet meeting, the last before
the Christmas holiday Bonn has unilaterally set as the deadline for
recognising Croatia and Slovenia.
Bonn's pro-Zagreb stand enjoys wide support among Germans, who see
Croatians as Roman Catholics long linked to German-speaking states but
now blocked in their drive for freedom by ruthless attacks from Europe's
last communist strongmen, the Serbs.
Croatian radio said today that federal planes bombed a village near
Daruvar, east of Zagreb, on Monday, killing several people.
It said the army attacked the nearby town of Nova Gradiska with
howitzers, rocket-launchers and tanks and one civilian was killed by
shellfire. The eastern city of Osijek also came under fire, it said.
Tanjug news agency, reporting the army's side, also spoke of fighting
around Nova Gradiska but said it had been started by the Croats.
It said a column of refugees in the area was attacked by three
crop-dusting planes -- Croatia's only aircraft.
Doctors said 5000 Serb refugees had arrived in Banja Luka, south of
Nova Gradiska, in recent days.--Reuter.
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