Croatia closes radio station

Croatia's hardline government ordered the country's last independent radio station to close, on the grounds that the Zagreb-based Radio 101 was "not objective". The ministry of communication gave the station until the end of the month to cease operations.

The crackdown on the station, the only significant mouthpiece of Croatia's liberal and left-wing opposition, will confirm fears that Croatia's fragile democracy is succumbing fast to the authoritarian tendencies of President Franjo Tudjman's nationalist HDZ party. The closure of Radio 101 will anger the Council of Europe, which recently endorsed Croatia's application only after Zagreb promised greater respect for human rights and the freedom of the media.