HDZ deputies in the Parliament's House of Representatives on Tuesday refused to vote on a bill on a public radio-television service which does not envisage a channel airing programmes in Croatian.
Before the vote, HDZ deputies walked out of the parliament hall and the bill was passed in their absence. The HDZ announced that it would complain to the Constitutional Court and seek protection of their vital national interest.
The spokeswoman for the OHR in Mostar, Sanela Tunovic, told reporters today the HDZ's request for the establishment of a Croatian language TV channel was "a serious obstacle to drawing up a feasibility study", one of the steps on the road to membership in the European Union.
International officials in the country have warned on several occasions that the establishment of national TV channels was not acceptable because it would trigger off new ethnic division in the country.