The request, which was submitted by the commission's secretary, Emil Tomljanovic, was opposed by Nenad Stazic of the Social Democratic Party, who said that by establishing the commission the ruling Croatian Democratic Union wanted to smear the former coalition government and that the commission was now buying time to present its findings before local elections.
Commission member Branimir Glavas of the HDZ refused the accusations, saying that he had opposed proposals to question former government members Ivica Racan, Slavko Linic, Mato Crkvenac and Ljubo Jurcic before the commission gained an insight into the shipyard's operation.
The commission needs more time to collect important evidence and hire a company which should reconstruct the shipyard's ownership structure in the next three weeks, Glavas said.
If the parliament accepts the commission's proposal, the commission would use the maximum time of six months envisaged by the law for such investigations.
The parliament today stopped individual debates on a draft national programme for the protection and promotion of human rights, which will resume next week.