SDP and HNS deputies consider scandalous the government's proposal that assistant ministers, government secretaries and their deputies, state secretaries and their deputies, and heads of bodies, institutes and agencies appointed by the government become civil servants.
"The purpose of the bill is to cement the HDZ's influence on the state administration, regardless of who will win the next elections," said SDP deputy Zvonimir Mrsic. He accused the HDZ of trying to keep at all costs its people in the government, ministries and the state administration by claiming that they were professional staff although they were appointed according to political criteria.
Mrsic warned that those officials were not appointed in line with public procedure and qualifications, but primarily because they were politically suitable, which was why he said they have to make their posts available to the new government.
Jozo Rados of the HNS agreed with this position, saying that politically appointed assistant ministers, secretaries, and other government officials should leave together with the government that had appointed them.
Pero Kovacevic of the Party of Rights (HSP) believes that the bill will only worsen political tensions before and after elections and prompt revenge-seeking and purges.
Kovacevic said the provision binding local and regional authorities to submit reports on the financial situation in local government units was unnecessary because the bill did not provide for penalties for those failing to submit such reports.
Damir Kajin of the IDS said that all managers of public companies should resign after local elections, thus sharing the fate of parliamentary deputies.
The HDZ supports the government's bill, which needs to be fine-tuned before second reading to prevent the appointment of party members to local administration bodies, said HDZ deputy Frano Matusic.
Parties that win the support of the electorate will have to implement their political platforms, which they will not be able to do if civil servants have different political views to theirs, Matusic said.