(29 Apr 2007)
FILE - 6 June, 2006
Washington DC, US
1. Prime Minister Ivica Racan of Croatia walking toward reporters
2. Wide of news conference
3. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Ivica Racan, Prime Minister of Croatia
"During my talks with (US) President (George W.) Bush, there was support expressed for the strategic orientation of democratic Croatia and its integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. We also discussed building stability and democracy and contributing to stability and democracy in the region."
FILE - 24 November, 2003
Zagreb, Croatia
4. Screen showing results of voting
5. Prime Minister Ivica Racan watching results
6. Ivo Sanader (centre of frame), the leader of HDZ (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica/Croatian Democratic Union), being congratulated by fellow party members
7. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Ivica Racan, Prime Minister of Croatia
"If these results are true and final it means that we don't have enough votes to form a coalition. In that case I will, on behalf on the Croatian Social Democrats, congratulate those who can form a coalition government and wish Croatian citizens a lot of luck and a lot of success with the new authority."
8. Racan speaking to media
FILE - 30 October, 2003
Zagreb, Croatia
9. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Croatian Prime Minister Ivica Racan arriving for press conference, walking to podiums
10. Cutaway media
11. Ivica Racan, Croatian Prime Minister speaking
STORYLINE:
Croatia's former Prime Minister Ivica Racan, a former communist who led the country's first staunchly pro-Western government from 2000 to 2003, died on Sunday, aged 63.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Croatia's strongest opposition party, died in a Zagreb clinic as a result of a kidney cancer he was diagnosed with in February.
Doctors had earlier this month warned that the cancer had spread to Racan's brain. For the past two weeks he had been in a critical condition.
Racan once led a governing coalition that was fully committed to making Croatia a part of mainstream Europe after a decade of authoritarian and nationalist rule under the late President Franjo Tudjman.
During his premiership, Croatia signed a pre-membership agreement with the European Union - a stepping stone for eventual membership.
The country formally opened membership negotiations in October 2006.
His death, just months before November parliamentary elections, is a blow for the Social Democrats, which he transformed from a communist to a Western-style centre-left group.
Social Democrats - ranked just behind the ruling conservative Croatian Democratic Union in most polls - are hoping to return to power in the vote.
Although Racan's six-party coalition government had been hailed as a clear break from Tudjman's regime, it did not efficiently handle growing social problems, unemployment and economic difficulties.
Racan also appeared to struggle to keep a lid on factional disputes and appeared indecisive in dealing with Western demands to hand over war crimes suspects to the UN tribunal and with extremists at home who opposed prosecution of Croats.
Tudjman's reformed party, led by current Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, returned to power in 2003.
Racan's supporters praise him for leading efforts to bring democracy to Croatia. Mild-mannered and modest, he loved to play tennis and listen to U2, and admitted smoking cannabis as a student.
He was born in 1944 in a Nazi labour camp in Ebersbach, Germany, where his father died.
His political career began in former communist-run Yugoslavia during the 1980s, and he rose to become leader of the Croatian Communist party in 1989.
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