Milorad Pupovac, who heads Croatia's Serbian National Council (SNV) and is one of that country's top ethnic Serbian political leaders, told "Vecernji list" of 9 January that he is optimistic about the new government of Prime Minister Ivo Sanader of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ).

Pupovac, who remained in Croatia throughout the 1991-95 conflict, noted that Sanader recently sent Christmas greetings to Croatia's Serbian Orthodox population and attended a traditional Serbian Orthodox Yule log ceremony.

Pupovac said that mutual trust between the Serbs and the government has grown markedly in the course of recent discussions about how Serbian leaders will play a key role in the government's refugee-return and housing-reconstruction programs. Pupovac called Sanader a man who keeps his word and does what he says.

(RFE/RL 09.i.04)