New President Vows to Move Croatia Toward a ‘Just Society’

As church bells chimed and an enthusiastic crowd cheered, Croatia’s new democratically elected president was sworn in Friday in a brief but emotional ceremony that marked a rare success story in the troubled Balkans.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright joined presidents, prime ministers, diplomats and dignitaries from nearly 50 nations to applaud President Stipe Mesic’s inauguration.

In sharp contrast to the ultranationalist policies of Croatia’s late authoritarian leader, Franjo Tudjman, Mesic pledged to strengthen human rights, cooperate with the international war crimes tribunal, institute free-market reforms and quickly integrate Croatia into Europe’s political and economic institutions.

“Together with you, I will do my utmost to fulfill our common task of transforming Croatia into a truly democratic and just society,” vowed Mesic, a reformist lawyer with a trim gray beard and a booming voice.

U.S. and European officials hope their embrace of Croatia’s infant democracy will increase the pressure for reform in neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina and especially the rump Yugoslavia, which remains under the oppressive rule of President Slobodan Milosevic eight months after a North Atlantic Treaty Organization air campaign forced his military from Kosovo--a province of Serbia, the dominant of Yugoslavia’s two republics--but failed to dislodge him from power.

“It’s my hope that someday soon we will all go to Belgrade [the Yugoslav and Serbian capital] and celebrate a democratic transition very much like the one we celebrated here today,” Albright said at an evening news conference with Mesic and Ivica Racan, Croatia’s new prime minister. She said the “new Croatia” sends a “message of hope” that can help bolster stability in Europe’s most volatile region.

Croatia’s new leaders said they will accept an invitation from President Clinton, delivered by Albright, to make a working visit to Washington before June. Albright’s aides said the push for a quick visit showed the strong U.S. support for Croatia after years of war, political turmoil and economic decline.

Earlier, Albright, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen met the leaders of four Serbian opposition groups to urge them to follow the Croatian model back home, especially during local and parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year in Serbia.

“The ball is in their court,” said a U.S. official who attended the hourlong meeting. He called the session “encouraging” but added: “The situation in Serbia is a good deal more difficult. . . . Some will say [the opposition leaders] are traitors.”

Albright’s daylong visit to Zagreb, the capital of a nation smaller than West Virginia, was her second in less than three weeks.

On Friday, she repeated a promise to increase economic aid to Croatia from $12 million per year to $20 million. She also said Washington will encourage foreign investment, push for Croatia to join a NATO program called Partnership for Peace and help provide housing to assist the return of tens of thousands of ethnic Serbian refugees.

“The United States is prepared to help in any way we can,” Albright said.

Croatia has no real democratic tradition. It was ruled for eight centuries by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, followed by two decades of Yugoslav monarchy, fascist rule during World War II, four decades under Yugoslav communism and then nine years under Tudjman. But elections held since his death in December have dramatically changed the political landscape.

On Jan. 3, a coalition of opposition parties decisively defeated the ruling Croatian Democratic Union to head the new parliament and government. Mesic was elected president Feb. 7.

Albright will fly to Tirana, the Albanian capital, today to thank government leaders for the crucial support they provided Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian refugees and the international community during the Kosovo conflict last year.