Stjepan Mesić, President of Croatia, receives World Marchers in Zagreb on their Balkans tour.

In a friendly atmosphere where group photos were taken with the World March banner the President spoke of his wish for a United Europe which includes all the countries of former Yugoslavia, saying that a United Europe is the path to ensure there are no future conflicts in the region. He pointed out the history of conflict between France and Germany lasted for hundreds of years before the formation of the EEC.

In reply, Tony Robinson from the UK, on behalf of the delegation agreed on the need to create a United Europe and pointed out the absurdity of all the border controls created since the demise of Yugoslavia given that all the new States in the region aim to enter the Schengen agreements as soon as possible. He spoke about the conflicts that the World March has witnessed in Israel/Palestine and in Korea, the meetings with victims of the Hiroshima bomb and the absurdity of trying to separate peoples with walls and fences, as can be seen in our own recent history with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall rapidly approaching.

The need to redirect military spending, which last year surpassed 1.5 trillion dollars in order to tackle the urgent issues of health, education and environmental degradation and next year's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference were also highlighted.

Mesic replied by recounting his own experience of conflict in the Second World War and also during the Balkan Wars, and said, "There's no one more in favour of peace than I am".