Ivica Racan told the press the SDP could not accept the unofficial announcements according to which the government would propose that the EFPZ be applied to European Union countries as of 1 January 2008, saying the EFPZ had become an issue under the incumbent government and that it should be settled during its term.
Racan pointed to the possibility of a new government not being formed at the end of next year after parliamentary elections, and wondered who would solve problems then and take the necessary steps to activate the EFPZ.
Racan said the SDP had carefully analysed the situation and that its proposal saw to national interests by not endangering Croatia's accession to the EU or the protection of the ecology and fishing in the Adriatic.
Racan said he was ready to help in contacts with partners in Rome, Ljubljana and Brussels in finding a compromise solution regarding EFPZ application, "so that we can give strong arguments that our proposal is not just in Croatia's but also in the interest of others".
Racan said a number of steps should be taken before the EFPZ could be activated and was confident that this could be done by July 1 next year.
Asked if he had discussed the SDP proposal with the Peasant Party (HSS), since the two parties had jointly moved the activation of the EFPZ, Racan said he had talked with HSS leader Josip Friscic. "The HSS showed understanding for our proposal and we expect them to support it."
Racan said Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had notified him this morning that a session at which the government should have presented its EFPZ application proposal had been postponed, and was hopeful that during inter-party consultations the government would accept the SDP proposal as a compromise solution.
Asked for a comment on the SDP proposal, the chief of the HSS deputies' club Zeljko Pecek said the HSS insisted that the EFPZ be activated six months before parliamentary elections and that the party would consider the SDP proposal.
Pecek said the parliamentary parties and the public had still not seen the government's final proposal on EFPZ activation or heard Foreign Ministry Hido Biscevic's explanation about the minutes he had signed and if the signature limited Croatia in activating the EFPZ.