Croatia president gets stolen painting as gift
Fri Mar 11, 2005 08:41 AM ET

ZAGREB (Reuters) - When Croatian President Stjepan Mesic received a painting from two prominent Roma, he was happy to have his picture taken, but when it appeared in the press, the painter recognized it as one of hers that had been stolen. The shock sent painter Slavica Medjeri to hospital with an acute heart condition, the Vecernji List daily said on Friday, but Mesic's office told her not to worry. "If the painting was stolen, it will be returned to the owner. The president accepts a lot of presents in good faith," it said in a statement to the daily.
The painting was one of eight of Medjeri's works stolen from an exhibition last year.

Roma representative and poet Kasum Cana, who presented the painting, said he had received it as a gift last year.

"I had no reason to think it was stolen," he said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7878230&type=entertainmentNews
 

Heroism, Failure, Redemption in Davis Cup

Wednesday, March 9, 2005
By Mert Ertunga
mertertunga@sports-central.org

Dramatic!
Sensational!
Stunning!

Call it what you will...
There is nothing like it!

Over the weekend, the Davis Cup once again provided the tennis fans with a different kind of excitement. This is not your everyday tennis tournament type of excitement. In Davis Cup, one look at the players' face proves that this is not about that player or about his battle. What one sees on the player's face is so much more than tension about how to win the next point.

The Davis Cup is the moment where the eyes of the player are fixated on the ball and the court, but his mind is slowly, but steadily crushed under the responsibility of representing the vast population that live in his country, and that country's flag. What you see on the player's face is the stress of the whirlwind of thoughts circulating in his mind, including what his teammates are thinking of him, what the millions of viewers are thinking about him when he commits that double fault on that crucial point, or how he will celebrate the win and what a hero he will become to his country's fans if he could just ... oh just ... win the next two games.

Take it from a guy who has played the deciding fifth match of a Davis Cup tie, a match that lasted five sets. The picture slowly forming in front of you is composed of a large, very large, group of people (millions in most cases), with a group of boxing gloves enough for all of them laying on one side, and a huge layer gifts and flowers laying on the other. If you win, you are showered with one. If you lose you are punished with the other. Get it?

One guy experienced the punishment side three years ago at the pinnacle of Davis Cup. In the 2002 Davis Cup finals in Paris, then 20-year-old Paul Henri Mathieu played Mikhail Youzhny for the deciding fifth match. Mathieu, much to the delight of the home crowd, won the first and second sets. Then the nightmare began and two hours later Youzhny was the hero and Mathieu was the guy who choked the Davis Cup away in five sets. If one did not think Mathieu was haunted by that memory for three years, one probably did not see last weekend's tie between Sweden and France. Mathieu was once again put in the same position against Thomas Johansson, one of the more composed players on the tour.

This time around, the location was Strasbourg, France. Mathieu again won the first two sets. And then the nightmare began again. After leading most of the third set, Mathieu squandered away the set in a tiebreaker failing to capitalize on three match points, and went down a break in the fourth. That third set lasted 77 minutes, longest minutes of Mathieu's career, maybe his life. Yet Mathieu clamped down, and won the fourth set by winning the last four games in a row. Immediately, tears came pouring down on his face. Those tears also took away from his body three years of heavyweights that were hanging in his mind since the nightmare in Paris. This time around, he was the hero.

Meanwhile in California, the U.S. Team composed of Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and the best doubles team in the world, the Bryan Brothers, could not possibly lose to Croatia, right? Wrong!

When Agassi went down to the young but bolding Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, the alarm bells appeared for Patrick McEnroe. Then the bells started ringing loud and clear when the Bryan brothers, who had yet to lose a set in Davis Cup prior to last weekend, went down in four sets to Ljubicic and Mario Ancic. Surely, Roddick and Agassi could still bring the victory to Croatia the next day, couldn't they? Well, that next day was a day of absolute heroism for Ljubicic and a colossal failure for Roddick. Ljubicic, battling injuries and cramps in the fifth set, defeated Roddick to move his country to the quarterfinals.

More than Roddick, this defeat leaves question marks regarding the coaching ability of Patrick McEnroe. All through the fifth set, Roddick rushed the points, tried to hurry his shots, and made silly mistakes against a guy who had very little left in the tank. It was almost like Roddick helped Ljubicic's cause by keeping the points short and giving several away on easy unforced errors. You would think that McEnroe on the sidelines would have a few words of wisdom for Roddick during that set. After all, that is one advantage of Davis Cup. The coach can intervene during play. But neither McEnroe showed the ability to guide his player in the right direction, nor Roddick showed his court wit to take a player mentally down that was already physically down.

In other ties, a Roger Federer-less Switzerland, without his automatic two wins, lost to Netherlands. Romania defeated Belarus in a thriller, mainly thanks to the home court advantage. On paper, Mirnyi and Voltchkov should have taken care of business against Pavel and Hanescu. But the home crowd helped the Romanians win five tiebreakers in singles matches vs. only one for Belarus. Russia took out Chile and Argentina and Australia blanked their opponents advancing to the quarterfinals.

The biggest surprise on paper after Croatia's win was the debacle of the defending champions Spain in Slovakia. However, after considering a couple of factors, it pales in "surprise" element to the U.S.' failure. First of all, Spain did not have the services of Davis Cup veterans Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Second, the tie was played in Slovakia, indoors on carpet. Probably the last time Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez played on carpet was when they were little kids in their bedrooms.

There is heroism, choking, failure, and revenge on the ATP Tour. The Davis Cup offers the kind that is not available in ATP tournaments. In the Davis Cup, heroes and victims do not have the luxury of being selfish. Therefore, successes and failures are truly heartfelt. To steal from TNT's commercial line: "Drama is Davis Cup."

http://www.sports-central.org/sports/2005/03/09/heroism_failure_redemption_in_davis_cup.php

San Pedro Croatian Fans

at the Roddick - Ljubicic tennis match March 6, 2005

Click here: Davis Cup - Popup Gallery Window
http://www.daviscup.com/gallery/popup.asp?id=13210&current=4099

Mariana Hazdovac
213.955.4534 direct
323.843.9762 fax
 

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (L) and Croatian President Stjepan Mesic (R) pass an honor guard in Zagreb on March 7, 2005. Khatami is on a two day official visit to Croatia. REUTERS/ Nikola Solic Reuters - Mar 07 4:21 AM
 

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (L) and Croatian President Stjepan Mesic (R) listen to national anthems during their meeting in Zagreb on March 7, 2005. Khatami is on a two-day official visit to Croatia. REUTERS/ Nikola Solic Reuters - Mar 07 4:36 AM
 

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami smiles during his meeting with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic in Zagreb March 7, 2005. Khatami is on a two-day official visit to Croatia. REUTERS/ Nikola Solic  Reuters - Mar 07 4:41 AM
 

Croatia shocks U.S. in Davis Cup
Ljubicic's five-set victory over Roddick seals Americans' fate

Croatia seemed to have almost as many fans as the U.S. team in the lively, drum-banging and somewhat rowdy crowd of 6,584. Southern California is home to a large number of transplanted Croatians.
 

Kevork Djansezian / AP
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, center, celebrates with the rest of his teammates and officials after he defeated Andy Roddick of the United States on Sunday, clinching the first-round Davis Cup tie for Croatia. Ljubicic won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11), 6-7(7), 6-2. The Associated Press


United States' Andy Roddick (news), right, congratulates Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic (news) after Roddick lost their first round reverse singles match of Davis Cup at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., Sunday, March 6, 2005. Ljubicic won 4-6,6-3,7-6,(11), 6-7(7), 6-2 to eliminate the U.S. and advance Croatia to the Davis Cup quarter-finals.(AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

 

Updated: 10:19 p.m. ET March 6, 2005CARSON, Calif. - The United States remains in a Davis Cup slump.

Ivan Ljubicic beat Andy Roddick in a taut, five-set marathon Sunday to give Croatia an insurmountable 3-1 lead in the opening-round Davis Cup matches. Playing iron man for his country, Ljubicic outlasted Roddick 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (11), 6-7 (7), 6-2 in a match that lasted almost 4 hours. The one remaining singles match became essentially an exhibition since Croatia had clinched the round. Andre Agassi was scheduled to play Mario Ancic, but doubles specialist Bob Bryan subbed for the United States.

The 25-year-old Ljubicic began the round with a straight-set win over Agassi, then teamed with Ancic to hand Bryan and his twin brother, Mike, their first Davis Cup loss in six matches.

Ljubicic also played and won three first-round matches in 2003 in Zagreb when Croatia eliminated the United States.

The Americans, who lost to Spain in the finals last year, have won the Cup 31 times, but haven’t taken it since 1995. The drought is their longest in 68 years.

The 34-year-old Agassi, who hadn’t played for the United States since 2000, rejoined the team to try to help end the winless string, but lost to Ljubicic in Friday’s opening singles. Roddick beat Ancic in four sets in their match the first day.

Both Roddick and Ljubicic played extremely well in what was an exciting match, with one of Roddick’s serves hitting 152 mph. But Ljubicic was able to punch back his opponent’s powerful serves much of the match, setting up a string of lengthy rallies from the baseline.

After winning the fourth-set tiebreaker, Roddick immediately lost his serve in the opening game of the fifth set. Ljubicic broke Roddick’s serve again in the fifth game to take clear control.

When Ljubicic finished it off with a service winner, the Croatian team locked arms and broke into an impromptu jig on the court.

Croatia seemed to have almost as many fans as the U.S. team in the lively, drum-banging and somewhat rowdy crowd of 6,584. Southern California is home to a large number of transplanted Croatians.

Croatia moves on to the quarterfinals against Romania, which defeated Belarus in the first round.

Source: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7111772/
 

US Hosts Croatia in Davis Cup Match

on TV today 4 pm EST (USA)

By Steve Schy
Washington
03 March 2005

Veteran tennis star Andre Agassi will play for the United States Davis Cup team for the first time in five years Friday, as the Americans host Croatia in a first round World Group Match in suburban Los Angeles, California. The 34-year-old Agassi has a 30-5 record playing in Davis Cup singles matches.

Andre Agassi and former U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick will lead the United States against Croatia in the three-day competition. Agassi and Roddick are scheduled to play singles, while brothers Bob and Mike Bryan are set to play doubles.

Croatia beat the Americans in the first round two years ago and has chosen Ivan Ljubicic and Mario Ancic to lead its team. Former
U.S. Davis Cup captain John McEnroe, who is now a tennis analyst, says with Agassi back, the U.S is favored but it should be an
interesting matchup.

"Andre is one of the legends and [one of] the greatest players that ever played and Roddick is one of the best players in the world, and
they have got the number-one doubles team, so on paper obviously they should win," he said. "But it is also a highly competitive match potentially, because Ljubicic is one of the hottest players out there this year. I think he has been in four finals now this year already. And Ancic is someone who got to the semis at Wimbledon and just last week got to the finals of a tournament - very dangerous. This is certainly not 'a gimmee' by any means."

The U.S. team has won the Davis Cup a record 31 times, but is in the middle of its longest-ever championship drought. The last time the
Americans won the trophy was in 1995.

In other first round matches getting under way Friday, defending champion Spain visits Bratislava to take on Slovakia, Switzerland hosts the Netherlands, Australian Open champion Marat Safin of Russia leads his nation against Chile in Moscow, nine-time champion France takes on seven-time winner Sweden and Belarus visits Romania in Brasov.

The winners of this weekend's best-of-five match series meet in the quarterfinals in July. The Davis Cup final is in December.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-03-voa56.cfm

Croatia has not yet shown it merits a place in the EU

(op-ed Nenad Bach) or vice versa

The Independent, which once used to be pro-Croatia has
run this scathing editorial on Croatia. I urge all to
reply - politely and briefly - , giving postal
address and telephone number, to
letters@independent.co.uk  You need to give postal
address and telephone number.

Brian

Croatia needs time to develop its own merit, that could be higher then European standards, especially of the last century. We can, and we will build better society then anybody is expecting from us. Just give people a chance to show their talent. Step aside with long list of legal obstacles and let the sheer Croatian  talent fly.

On the subject of war crimes and the titles that appeared in many newspapers as "war criminal" accused yet innocent, unless proven guilty... the whole thing should be dismissed. Let's not give a chance for another History Remodeling as it happened in 1945. What an interpretation of truth, one can easily call a lie, as far as someone can imagine, became quotable for the next generation. Time is NOW to step forward and say loud what needs to be told. Croatia defended it's sovereignty and freedom of it's citizens with our own blood and tears. Even in case that the general wasn't a war hero, he just became one. In my eyes.

Ja placam chekom a ne u "gotovini"

Nenad Bach

The Independent 4 March 2005

Croatia has not yet shown it merits a place in the EU

EUROPE SHOULD be marking a significant event on 17
March. Croatia, the former Yugoslav republic that 10 years ago was being
torn apart by civil war, is to open formal membership negotiations with
the European Union. The mood has soured, however, and EU leaders are
poised to call off the talks over Zagreb's failure to arrest an army
general who has been indicted for war crimes.

Croatia's Prime Minister, Stjepan Mesic, travelled to
Brussels this week protesting that Zagreb is powerless to comply
with the demands of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague
for the arrest of General Ante Gotovina. Mr Mesic contends that the
general has fled Croatia and, moreover, that EU pressure on the issue is
damaging his public's support for the EU.

Europe's leaders would be unwise to listen to these
hollow protestations. Croatia may have undergone an economic transformation
since the death of its former president Franjo Tudjman in 1999. But
its political transformation has not kept pace, and this is
symbolised by the refusal to force individual war criminals to accept
responsibility for their alleged deeds. An essential part of any nation's
coming to terms with its wartime past is to ensure that justice is
administered to those responsible for atrocities. General Gotovina is
number three on the UN's "most wanted" list for his role in the
killings of Croatian Serbs in 1995. But one of the reasons he has
not been arrested yet is that so many Croats still regard him
as a war hero.

The EU would also be setting a dangerous precedent in
its dealings with the rest of the former Yugoslavia if it allowed
Croatia to enter talks at this stage. The two most notorious indictees,
the Bosnian Serbs Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, are still at large.

Although he claims to be powerless, Mr Mesic could at
least order General Gotovina's cronies to be arrested or placed
under surveillance. Officials at The Hague believe the general is still in
hiding in "the region". Such steps might go some way towards
convincing the world that Croatia is serious about purging its legacy of
violent nationalism and is ready to begin the process of admission to
Europe's family of democracies.

Slovenia & Italy: Moving On?

Transitions Online
www.tol.cz

by Andrej Brstovsek
2 March 2005

An Italian movie revisiting the fate of Italians killed or expelled by partisans courts controversy in Slovenia.

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia--A massively publicized Italian movie about the killings of Italian civilians at the end of World War II in what was then Yugoslavia has angered many in Slovenia and strained relations between the two countries. Il Cuore nel Pozzo (The Heart in the Pit) has been widely condemned in Slovenia for portraying Yugoslav partisans as evildoers while neglecting the circumstances in which the crimes occurred.

The debate sparked by the movie shows that the two countries have never achieved true reconciliation and cannot even agree on what exactly happened before, during, and after World War II.

“I wanted to make a simple story. The aim was not to make it political,” says Italian Alberto Negrin, the director. The movie shows pictures of families put before firing squads of Italian and Yugoslav partisans, Italian children screaming after being taken away from their mothers, and murdered civilians being thrown into the Karst pits of Slovenia and Croatia, the fojbe or foibe.

The movie is silent about the crimes of the Fascists in those areas.

A NEW ROMAN HOLIDAY

If Negrin wanted to make a non-political movie, its effect has been anything but. In Italy, the movie received the outspoken support of the National Alliance, a party in the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that traces its roots to Mussolini’s Fascists. “We must pull from the abyss of lies a truth hidden by the imposition of a cultural bias,” Italian Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri, a member of the National Alliance, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The two-part movie premiered on Italian state television just before 10 February, a new national holiday to commemorate the victims of the fojbe. Millions of Italians watched--and a good number of Slovenes tuned in as well.

The political backlash from Italy’s eastern neighbors was fast and furious.

Among the first to respond were World War II veterans from Slovenia and Croatia, who accused director Negrin of being biased and trying to portray Italy as the victim when in fact it was the aggressor.

“The occupying Italian forces killed and raped, which caused reprisals. Revenge has always been blind,” said Janez Stanovnik, president of the Slovenian World War II veterans’ association. He said it was “a huge lie” to claim that Italians were killed just because they were Italians.

Even without the movie, the new Italian holiday would have raised some eyebrows in Slovenia. There is a good chance that the Slovenian parliament will respond by proclaiming a new Slovenian holiday, celebrating the incorporation of the coastal Primorje region, which was once Italian, into Slovenia.

It is an uncontroversial historical fact that many Italians were killed in Slovenia and Croatia after the war--estimates of their number range from 1,700 to 10,000. Many Italians also fled the territory fearing reprisals or because they didn’t want to live in a communist state.

But both veterans and historians said that while it was important to acknowledge the killings and expulsions, one also had to consider the circumstances in which they took place. Even before World War II, Italy pursued an aggressive policy in Istria (now shared by Croatia and Slovenia) and Dalmatia (part of today’s Croatia) and then occupied most of the territory during the war.

Several postwar agreements between Italy and Yugoslavia tackled the problem of Italian citizens who fled at the end of the war. The agreements obliged the Italian government to pay compensation for the property they left behind in Yugoslavia; those payments were in turn considered as Italian compensation for war damage in Yugoslavia.

But despite the legal settlement, the issue never came to rest politically.

In the face of an Italian threat to veto the beginning of Slovenian negotiations on EU membership in the mid-1990s, Slovenia had to sign a special agreement with the EU in which it opened up its real-estate market to Italians who had fled.

At the same time, both Yugoslavia and Slovenia (which became independent in 1991) tried to take care of the Italian minority that remained on its soil. One of the 90 seats in the Slovenian parliament is reserved for a representative of the Italian minority (another one is reserved for a representative of the Hungarian minority), and Italian is an official language in the areas where the Italian minority lives.

JANSA IN AN AWKWARD POSITION

But the matter goes beyond minority rights or compensation for past injustice and the loss of real estate, though all of these have been raised by the families of those who were killed or fled. This is also an issue of setting the historical record straight--and of being able to move on.

While the current center-right Italian government, which supported the making of the movie, is likely to reap benefits from revisiting the past, the new center-right government coalition in Slovenia finds itself in an uncomfortable situation. This is no longer just a bilateral question but also one of domestic politics. Critics accuse the Slovenian government of having been slow to react because its anti-communist stance made it awkward to defend the communist partisans.

A number of public figures put pressure on Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel to respond to the movie. The leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Borut Pahor, suggested sending a diplomatic note to Rome. The government at first said a movie shouldn’t be a basis for discussing bilateral relations but reversed course after Slovenian television decided to air the movie--and then reported record ratings.

The government issued a statement voicing the expectation that Italy would deal with its past in a critical manner, and reaffirming that the government rejected all biased and politically motivated interpretations of recent history. This could also be seen as criticism of Yugoslavia’s communist regime and its version of events.

The conciliatory tone seems to have had some impact. An undersecretary in the Italian Foreign Ministry mentioned the possibility that representatives of the three countries could mark a “symbolic reconciliation,” presumably during a planned summit between Berlusconi, Slovenian President Drnovsek, and Croatian President Stipe Mesic.

On the other hand, as Stanovnik of the Slovenian veterans’ association said, reconciliation is a matter of personal conscience. And if that conscience hasn’t been examined in the last sixty years, it is doubtful it will be now.

Andrej Brstovsek is a journalist with the Ljubljana daily "Dnevnik."

Copyright © 2005 Transitions Online.
 

"Ten Questions to Ask Before You Give Away Your Country"

John Blundell's Open Letter to Croatia's Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader

As featured in Dnevnik, Croatia's Business Daily, Wednesday, March 2, 2005 with front page lead.

For those interested in the scanned copy of John Blundell's article via attachment or the Croatian version, please email:
AdriaticIPP@aol.com

2nd March 2005

Prime Minister Dr Ivo Sanader
Trg Sv Marka 2
10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Ten questions to ask before you give away your country

It was good to sit with you at dinner on my recent visit to Croatia. Your country is doing well and clearly has great potential.
However, I do worry about your headlong rush into the EU. Let me share with you ten questions every Croatian should ask and be able
to answer before you hand over your country and its governance to Brussels:

1. Why would you want to give control of your country away? After all, you haven’t had it very long. Of course, you’ll be told that
belonging to the EU in no way means giving away your country’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is a country’s constitutional independence, its
exclusive political authority. It cannot be shared or pooled. But consider this: once in the EU, your country will be subject to a higher
political authority – Brussels. The EU will overrule your government’s policies on foreign affairs, security, justice and much much more.
It is planning its own constitution – which will allow the EU to sign treaties without consulting your government. That sounds
uncomfortably like relinquishing your country’s authority. You can’t give it up and keep it at the same time. Being a sovereign nation is
like being a virgin – either you are one or you’re not.

2. Do you want more rules and regulations? The EU has a strong desire to “harmonise” in order to iron out the differences between
member states. The way it does this is by devising regulations. There are currently hundreds of thousands of them, covering areas as
diverse as pollution and how you hire and fire employees, with more than 5,000 new ones coming out of Brussels every year. It’s not
always easy for countries to meet these demands and for small businesses it’s sometimes impossible. If you think you’re regulated
enough already, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

3. Would you be happy joining a corrupt organisation? There’s no doubt that the EU is rotten to the core. In May 2004 Britain’s
National Audit Office (NAO) reported 10,000 cases of EU fraud in 2002 costing £700 million up from 5,482 cases costing £386
million in 2001 ie a doubling of fraud in just one year. But figures like this are the tip of the iceberg – they only relate to matters which
national governments know about and are prepared to divulge. A more damning estimate is that around five per cent of the
Commission’s budget - or almost £4 billion – goes missing every year. That’s your money, by the way. Disgusted? You should be. But
you can’t do anything about it. You can’t even vote the culprits out of office.

4. Do you think barriers to trade are a good thing? Well, you ought to, because that’s what you’re going to get by joining the EU.
There will of course be advantages when it comes to trading with other member nations, but what about all those other countries, the
US, for example? Croatia must be open to the world, not just its neighbours. You were locked into Tito’s socialism for a long time; you
do not need Brussels’ version of the same error.

5. Is high unemployment your idea of fun? If you enjoy the prospect of low growth, rigid labour markets, increasingly intrusive
regulation, high and rising taxes, and a high level of trade protection in some sectors, then the EU is for you. Oh, and for good measure
the result is the high unemployment which Europe has experienced for more than a decade. It’s not a coincidence that the two most
prosperous European nations, Norway and Switzerland, are not in the EU.

6. How do you feel about entering the most inefficient system of agricultural support ever devised? The Common Agricultural Policy
was a noble idea: subsidise farmers to keep farm wages high and stop people moving from country areas to the city in search of
better-paid jobs. But it has failed and it’s the ordinary citizens who’ve suffered –they’re paying more for food and more in taxes as a
result. And, guess what? Rural areas are still in decline.

7. Do you mind giving up democracy? Right now, you can express your views on what happens in your country by voting. But for
the EU to have a political democracy would mean having a European people, European public opinion and a chance to vote for what
happens in Europe. But Europe does not have a common people, nor does it have common bonds of allegiance and obligation, which
means that citizens would be unlikely to accept majority decisions which they believe discriminate against them or unfairly favour others.
That is precisely why Europe’s political elites and bureaucrats will decide on the really important European issues, which will of course
affect what happens in your own country. It’s simpler that way, even if the price is democracy.

8. How do you fancy being a very small fish in a very big European pond? Under the EU constitution, more voting power will go to
countries with bigger populations and there will be more majority decisions, rather than decisions based on unanimity. This means that
your elected representatives will have very little say in what happens in Europe. And, as we all know, the French and the Germans stick
together on many important issues. They are the big fish in the pond of Europe. Your country, I regret to say, stands to be one of the
minnows.

9. Are you happy to give up your currency? A simple sentimental attachment to your own currency might seem a good enough
reason not to give it up, but there are better ones. If your country adopts the Euro, it loses control of its own economy. The European
Central Bank will make decisions about interest rates. No longer will your own financial experts and politicians be able decide what to
do with your money. Instead, your economy will embark on an impossible journey: it will leave the country and go north nearly 1,000
kilometres to Frankfurt, but be dragged rapidly southwards at the same time. Your economy will suffer because it’s impossible to find
one interest rate to suit all countries in the Euro. If you need more proof, bear in mind that the best-performing EU countries are those
which have not adopted the Euro.

10. Does it bother you that, after all you have been through, you will be entering a union that has uncomfortable parallels with the
former Yugoslavia? In recent times, you have become the citizen of an independent and democratic state. Before that, you were forced
to be part of a group of countries which threw together people of different languages and cultures. The only thing many of the peoples in
this federation had in common was that all this was imposed on you by an unrepresentative political elite. A bit like the EU really.


I look forward to hearing your answers. In the meantime I wish you all the very best as you wrestle with so many difficult issues.



John Blundell
Director General
Institute of Economic Affairs


John Blundell, Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs, UK, serves as Director of Fairbridge, a Director of the International
Policy Network, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Atlas Economic Research Foundation, and a Board member of
the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, the Institute for Economic Studies (Europe) in Paris, France
and Vice President of the Mont PĂŠlerin Society. Blundell joined the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy's Founding Leadership Board,
Croatia's first independent free market think tank. John Blundell delivered the opening keynote address, "Waging the War of Ideas" at
the First International Leaders Summit, Nov. 5, 2004 in Zagreb, Croatia

www.AdriaticInstitute.org
www.ils-wde.org


John Blundell, Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs delivers the opening keynote address, "Waging the War of Ideas" at
the International Leaders Summit (ILS), Zagreb, Croatia - 2004

Pictured from right: Dr. Daniel Mitchell, Doris Pack (MEP), Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, John Blundell, Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand
Samy at the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy - ILS Dinner Event






For further information please visit www.AdriaticInstitute.org

The Second International Leaders Summit is scheduled for June 1 and 2, 2005 in Zagreb, Croatia. More details to follow.

Joel Anand Samy
President, World Development and Empowerment
Co-founder, Adriatic Institute and International Leaders Summit

WDE - International Leaders Summit
37736 Starflower Street
P.O. Box 964
Newark, California 94560
USA

Adriatic Institute - International Leaders Summit
Zagreb
Croatia

Adriatic Institute - ILS
Markovici 15
51000 Rijeka
Croatia

Cell: +385-91-516-9129 (Croatia)
T/F: +385-51-626-582

Email: JoelAnandSamy@aol.com
www.AdriaticInstitute.org
www.ils-wde.org

Vega Travel - Chicago
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1-800-FLY THERE
1-800-359-8437 x 2
312-332-7211 x 2
mz@vegatravel.net
www.vegatravel.net