The bill was "was given the green light by eight ministries and it incorporates the position of the Fishermen's Guild," Assistant Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Minister Ivan Katavic said presenting the bill.
The text of the bill is being harmonised. It has caused controversy in the public, notably among fishermen, over a provision which allows foreign legal persons and foreign nationals holding Croatian citizenship to establish fishing and fish-processing companies in Croatia.
Katavic said that fishermen had misunderstood the bill and that it read that privileges with regard to fisheries and establishment of companies in Croatia can be granted only to legal and physical persons holding Croatian citizenship.
He added that "there certainly are numerous possibilities of manipulation, however, the government must take a stand on this issue".
Katavic said that the bill must be forwarded to parliament to be discussed under urgent procedure because of the need to adjust it to EU standards.
Tonci Bozanic, the leader of the Fishermen's Guild whom the Croatian Trades Chamber delegated into the commission in charge of drawing up the sea fisheries law, said the Guild was strongly opposed to the said provision and had numerous other objections to the bill.
"The Italian sea is completely devastated and there is great interest in privileged fishing in the Croatian Adriatic. Fishermen want time so they can contribute to the law, and they are strongly against its adoption under urgent procedure," Bozanic said.
A member of the commission from the Croatian Chamber of the Economy, Miro Kucic, who is also opposed to the adoption of the bill under urgent procedure, said that the scope of the bill was defined by the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Croatia and the EU and that Croatia now had to adjust to the Agreement, which clearly states that all European citizens can establish companies anywhere in Europe.
Kucic suggested that the bill be forwarded to parliament for discussion under regular procedure and that it be thoroughly discussed with the fishermen and the public, and that legal experts study the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and find ways to delay what he called "an invasion of Italian fishermen on the Croatian coast".