PM SPEAKS AT LOCAL HDZ BRANCH'S ANNIVERSARY

SIBENIK, Feb 14 (Hina) - The government will realise the programmes it has announced but not with the planned intensity due to the difficult situation left over by the former government, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said in the central Adriatic city of Sibenik on Saturday.#L# Speaking at the 14th anniversary of the establishment of the Sibenik-Knin County branch of his Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Sanader reiterated the last government had taken US14.5 billion worth of foreign loans in less than four years and that the external debt now amounted to 24 billion. He said the state of affairs was different from that presented by his predecessor Ivica Racan and his associates during the transfer of authority. Sanader said the falling birth-rate was currently Croatia's biggest problem. "We have to take very seriously the warnings of demographers that if the birth-rate remains at the current level, Croatia will have one million people less in 40 years' time. That's why our pro-birth policy and the reinstatement of maternity leave rights are important. We want to enable young people to get married and have children." "Our detractors claim that we are forcing women only to raise children. It's true, we want women to raise children because the family is the pillar of every society, but (our detractors) suppress the fact that the three-year maternity leave is not mandatory and that we're giving women the possibility to choose. On the other hand, we're also giving women the chance to be entrepreneurs, which is why a special entrepreneurial programme for women is being drawn up," Sanader said. Speaking about his party, he said the HDZ's power lay in the confidence of its members and the fact that its officials realised that they were not heaven-sent but had to serve citizens. Sanader said that those who left the HDZ in the past were welcome to come back but that "those who have been faithful to the HDZ the whole time have precedence". (Hina) ha sb