Opposition deputies on Tuesday evening walked out of the session in protest at the decision by session chairman and parliament vice-president Luka Bebic to skip one item on the agenda and open a debate on the Istrian Democratic Assembly's (IDS) bill on the repayment of the state debt to pensioners.
As the debate was to take place after Croatian Television ended live coverage of the session for yesterday, IDS deputy Damir Kajin asked that it be postponed for today so it could be televised live and held in the presence of government representatives.
After Bebic refused his request and a subsequent request by the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) for a break, opposition deputies walked out of the session.
Although parliament president Vladimir Seks today initially refused to call a session of the Sabor Presidency to discuss the matter, it was decided that the Presidency and heads of clubs of deputies will meet today to discuss whether the Rules of Procedure were violated last night.
After a half-an-hour break at the beginning of today's session, opposition deputies warned that session chairpersons lately had been frequently denying the floor to MPs claiming that they they were not sticking by relevant topics.
HSS leader Zlatko Tomcic called on Seks to interrupt the session until the Sabor Presidency and heads of clubs of deputies agreed on "the minimum level of fair play between the ruling coalition and the opposition".
Despite warnings and claims that Bebic's decision was in line with the Rules of Procedure, the opposition did not give up on its request to call a meeting of the heads of clubs of deputies.
Seks rejected the request and tried to continue the session, but opposition leaders surrounded his desk and prevented the session from continuing.
He then ruled a break, accusing the opposition of obstructing the parliament's work.
After the break, he called a meeting of the Sabor Presidency, after which the parliamentary session resumed with a debate on the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) bill on changes to the Law on Legal Practice.
Damir Kajin said at a separate news conference in parliament today that the parliamentary majority was systematically boycotting opposition proposals and violating the Rules of Procedure.
He accused the ruling coalition (HDZ, the Croatian Pensioners Party, the Croatian Social Liberal Party, the Democratic Centre, and ethnic minorities) of skipping items and refusing debates on opposition proposals, including his party's bill on the repayment of the state debt to pensioners.
"The ruling majority is doing so to hide the fact that 700,000 pensioners will not get anything from the incumbent government."
Kajin announced that the IDS would soon again submit a slightly changed form of the bill that was discussed last night without opposition deputies.
The HDZ club of deputies resolutely dismisses accusations by the opposition that the parliamentary majority is terrorising the minority, but rather believes that this is an attempt by the opposition to obstruct the parliament's work, the head of the HDZ club of deputies, Luka Bebic, said at a news conference.
The parliament must step up its activity, especially because of the large number of items, including those on the adjustment of national legislation to EU standards, Bebic said, adding that the Sabor was "burdened with proposals which lack grounds".
He stated that the opposition was also obstructing the parliament's work with frequent unfounded requests for breaks.