(3 Apr 2008) SHOTLIST
Zagreb, Croatia - 3 April 2008
1. Pan from tram to square
2. Statue of Ban Jelacic, army general during revolution of 1848
3. Tram passing by, wide of people crossing tram tracks
4. Close up of Croatian and European Union flags
5. Tilt down of Ban Jelacic statue
6. People walking in street
7. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Vox Pop, Romeo, Local resident:
"I am happy that Croatia is part of NATO. I think that this is very good for Croatia."
8. Wide of square
9. Stand collecting signatures in protest of Croatia entering NATO
10. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Vox Pop, Ruzica, Local resident:
"I think we should accept the invitation. It is very promising for us."
11. People sitting under lamp post
12. SOUNDBITE: (Croatian) Vox Pop, Zarko Maric, Local resident:
"If we are training our soldiers, and spending the money on training for fighting in places like Afghanistan to defend somebody else's heroin and petroleum fields, then I am against this. They should defend our country not go and defend some other occupied territories."
13. People by tram
FILE: Mazar e Sharif, Afghanistan -10 December 2007
14. Various of Croatian troops patrolling in Afghanistan
STORYLINE
Residents of Croatian capital Zagreb on Thursday reacted to the news that their country was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).
During a summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO decided to invite Croatia and Albania to join the 26 member alliance.
The countries are expected to join within the next two years, after parliamentary ratification of their entry.
"I am happy that Croatia is part of NATO. I think that this is very good," Romeo, a Zagreb resident, told AP Television.
Another resident said the invitation was "promising for us."
However some opposition remained, with activists collecting signatures in protest of Croatia's membership in Zagreb's Ban Jelacic Square.
One man told AP Television he was against joining if a NATO membership meant Croatia would spend more money training soldiers to be deployed to Afghanistan.
"If we are training our soldiers, and spending the money on training for fighting in places like Afghanistan to defend somebody else's heroin and petroleum fields, then I am against this," Zarko Maric said.
According to NATO, 200 Croatian soldiers, diplomats and military police officers currently work within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) across three different regions of Afghanistan.
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