BRUSSELS BOOSTS CROATIA REFUGEE AID

The Eu Commission and Croatia have drawn up a fresh list of priorities for emergency aid provisioons to cope with the most recent wave of refugges into the country, Mr Ivica Kostovic, the croatian deputy prime minister, said yesterday, writes Caroline Southey in Brussels.

Mr Kostovic, speaking after talks with Mrs Emma Bonino, the EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, said there would be "some adjustments" to the existing humanitarian aid provisions to cover "increased needs".

"Croatia deserves help because we care for so many refugees. We are doing this for Europe", he said. The European Commission made Ecu 20m (16,7m) in humanitarian aid available last month to supplement the Ecu94m distributed in May to all the republics of the former Yugoslavia.

The EU has provided Ecu257m worth of aid to Croatia since 1991, 24 per cent of the total committed to the former Yugoslavia. An EU official said that the aid would not be conditional on the right of Serbian refugees to return to the Krajina region which was overrun by Croatian forces in early August. "Aid has always been non-discriminatory", he said.