The government has requested the parliament to confirm its decision to postpone until the end of the year the public sale of 15 percent of INA shares, which was expected to start in June.
"Along with legal obligations towards war veterans and INA employees, Prime Minister (Ivo Sanader) has promised INA shares also to pensioners, while MOL wants to enlarge its share, but there are simply not enough shares to meet all those requests," Tonci Tadic of the Party of Rights (HSP) said.
Tadic said another postponement of the privatisation process was unacceptable unless the government submitted a report on measures taken to establish a war veterans fund and estimate the value of INA shares.
Ivica Pancic of the Social Democrats said he feared that veterans would be left without dividends from INA shares the way they were left without dividends from Croatian Telecom shares.
He recalled that the government had decided to keep as budgetary revenue the seven percent dividend from HT shares that was intended for the veterans fund, thus causing damage to veterans amounting to 140 million kuna.
The parliament started today's session with a debate on the final bill of amendments to the Law on Children's Allowance, which would entitle foreign nationals with permanent residence in Croatia to receive children's allowance.
The Law on Children's Allowance would thus be adjusted to EU instructions and the Law on Foreign Nationals.
The bill met with strong criticism by some opposition parties, which said that granting foreign nationals the right to children's allowance could result in the abuse of that benefit.