HSS: GOVERNMENT UNLAWFULLY STARTS TALKS ON PROTOCOL VII

liti~ke stranke ZAGREB, March 24 (Hina) - The Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) has accused the government of acting unlawfully when it started negotiations with the European Union on quotas for the import of agricultural produce from the Union, which are to go in force on 1 May when 10 new members enter the EU.#L# HSS officials Bozidar Pankretic and Ivan Kolar told a news conference on Wednesday that the law on the implementation of the Croatia-EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement envisaged a platform for negotiations on trading and other issues, which the Croatian government should define and parliament confirm. They said that this procedure was not respected. Instead of asking the Sabor to endorse its negotiating platform, which would have also reinforced Zagreb's position at the talks, the government began negotiations in January, about which parliament received only scant information, Pankretic said. He added that in case Croatia accepted a significant increase in import quotas on 1 May, which the EU insist on, it would no longer be able to protect the national agricultural production. Pankretic believes that a possible signing of the so-called Protocol VII on the matter would mean the violation of laws for which the government must answer. (Hina) ms