Addressing a press conference in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka, alliance leader Nikola Ivanis said he would request a debate on the matter in the national parliament. He added that the adoption of such regulations would not require change of the laws and that the measure would be easy to implement.
Speaking of the problem of fiscal decentralisation in Croatia, Ivanis said that public revenues in the country were divided in such a way that the central government receives 88 per cent on average, the City of Zagreb six per cent, and all other local government units six percent.
The City of Zagreb has a budget of about 7 billion kuna (nearly 1 billion euros) for 2006, while Split, Rijeka and Osijek have combined budgets of less then two billion kuna, he said.
The problem is that 70 per cent of profit tax is paid to the government, 20 per cent to towns and municipalities, 10 per cent to counties, while Zagreb collects 30 per cent because it is both a city and a county where companies generating the highest profits are based, Ivanis said.
Regionala comprises the Alliance of Primorje and Gorski Kotar, the Croatian Party of Slavonija and Baranja, the Medjimurje Democratic Party, and the Dalmatian Liberal Party.