Committee chair Zeljka Antunovic of the Social Democrats (SDP) told the press that shortly before the session the Committee's members from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) excused themselves for being unable to attend due to other commitments, which prompted her to reschedule the session for Wednesday.
Antunovic said the fact that all HDZ members on the Media Committee had excused themselves represented a deliberate obstruction of the Committee's work and "confirms... that the reason behind the government's decision (to dismiss part of Hina's Governing Council) is not care for employees' influence on the election of Hina's director" but something non-transparent, something unclear. Whatever it is, this is definitely a question of pressure on media independence and freedom".
"What is happening in (the daily) Vjesnik and in Hina shows the HDZ's obvious intention to abolish any media independence in election year so that the media could only positively report about (Ivo) Sanader's government and the HDZ," said Antunovic.
She said the Media Committee was expected to give its opinion on the government's motion before parliament addressed it at a plenary session given that the Committee voiced its opinion when the members of Hina's Governing Council were appointed last summer.
Antunovic expects parliament to discuss and vote as early as Friday afternoon on the motion to dismiss four Hina Governing Council members, of whom three tendered their resignations last Sunday.
Andrija Hebrang, an HDZ member on the parliamentary Media Committee, told the press that he had university commitments every Wednesday and knew of no agreement within the ruling party about not attending today's session or why the rest of the HDZ members failed to show up today.
He declined to comment on Antunovic's claims, announcing that he would attend tomorrow's session.
Tonci Tadic of the Party of Rights (HSP) also failed to show up, telling the press the HDZ "are obviously doubting whether they are in a legal vacuum or not regarding the election of Hina's Governing Council. We in the HSP think they are".
He said that neither the Hina Act nor the Hina Statute nor the rules on the Governing Council envisaged a situation in which there was no Council, which he added would come to pass unless parliament voted to dismiss the Council's members.
Yesterday the HSP requested parliament's Legislative Committee to consider the government's motion from the legal point of view and say how Hina would function without a Governing Council.