GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES WAR VETERANS' RIGHTS

SPLIT, Feb 3(Hina) - The government will propose that the parliament discontinue the revision of the status of disabled war veterans which started during the term of the last government, Croatia's Minister of Family and War Veterans' Affairs and Inter-Generation Solidarity, Jadranka Kosor, said at a government session in Split on Tuesday.#L# The revision of the status of disabled war veterans will be discontinued by changing the Law on the Rights of Croatian War Veterans, which the government is expected to discuss already at its next session. Kosor said that the revision of some 4,500 cases had ended negatively in 37 percent of the cases. Disabled war veterans whose status did not pass the revision are complaining to the Administrative Court, and some of them are winning the disputes, which costs the state more than if it had paid them allowances they were entitled to on the basis of previously acquired rights, Kosor said. The minister repeated that a new law on war veterans would be drawn up this year and that the state would help them as much as it can. War veterans are not asking for anything impossible, but they want to be treated humanely and with respect, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said. Minister Kosor warned about the worrying suicide rate among war veterans, which is five times higher than in other segments of the population. The government adopted last year's report on the implementation of measures to prevent fires, which shows that the overall number of fires increased by 34 percent. The government was informed about the implementation of obligations from the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and plans to adjust domestic legislation to that of the EU. It also adopted a regulation on the establishment of a gender equality office, to have four employees. (Hina) rml sb