Zagreb Daily Report - February 11, 2010

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000094 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL HR ECON SUBJECT: Zagreb Daily Report - February 11, 2010 ¶1. (U) Ambassador Foley Visits Vukovar and Marks the Beginning of Student Dormitory Renovation: Ambassador Foley visited Vukovar February 9-10 to mark the start of a $430,000 renovation of the Student Dormitory in the Vukovar neighborhood of Borovo Naselje. This U.S. financed Humanitarian Civic Assistance Project was a combined achievement of the U.S. military's European Command (EUCOM),the Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC),Embassy Zagreb, and the city of Vukovar. Ambassador Foley also visited Vukovar General Hospital and provided a donation of medical textbooks worth approximately $10,000. The Director of Vukovar General Hospital, Vesna Bosanac, greeted the Ambassador and led him on a tour of the hospital museum, which tells the story of the fall of Vukovar. The trip concluded with a private visit to the Ovcara Memorial and the laying of a wreath at the location of the mass grave. ¶2. (U) Unemployment Expected to Reach 17% in 2010: Croatia's unemployment rate is expected to climb as high as 17%, according to Croatian government labor analysts. Analysts at the Croatian Employment Bureau reported February 10 that they expect unemployment could rise to as many as 300,000 out of the country's 1.7 million workers by the end of 2010. Economists and private analysts concur with the figure and attribute the unemployment rise to a forecasted 2010 GDP decline of 0.7% and further declines in domestic consumer consumption. ¶3. (U) Police Arrest Protesters in Downtown Zagreb: Around 4000 people gathered in Zagreb city center on February 10 protesting the construction of a new shopping center driveway through a pedestrian square. Zagreb police arrested about 20 activists of the NGO, "Zelena akcija" (Green Action) and the civil initiative, "Pravo na grad" (Right to the City),for refusing to leave the construction site. This rally was the culmination of a years-old conflict between these civic groups and principal project investor Tomislav Horvatincic, who is a close friend of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic. ¶4. (U) Croatia and Bosnia Sign Deal on Serving Convictions: The Croatian and Bosnia-Herzegovina justice ministers, Ivan Simonovic and Barisa Colak, signed an amended agreement yesterday on implementation of court decisions in criminal cases. The agreement is envisaged to prevent cases of convicted criminals and war criminals escaping detention by fleeing one country to the other when they hold dual citizenship, therefore avoiding extradition under current constitutional guarantees. The previous law required the consent of the convicted person in order to serve the sentence in the country to which they fled. The new agreement applies only to final, rather than first-instance verdicts [Note: this agreement will not yet be tested in the celebrated case of war crimes fugitive Branimir Glavas, as he has not yet exhausted all his appeals in Croatian courts]. FOLEY