Asked to comment on the fact that the Committee adopted the decision unanimously in January, as it did its amendments on two occasions, the opposition leaders said that the January decision was not disputable because it awarded compensation to really independent MPs. However, they considered disputable last week's decision to grant compensation to MPs Ivo Loncar and Zdenka Cuhnil, who entered the parliament on the lists of the Croatian Democratic Peasant Party and the Peasant Party (HSS).
The representatives of the four opposition parties said that nobody from their clubs of deputies had voted for the decision, except for Social Democratic Party (SDP) member Mato Arlovic, who confirmed in an interview with a daily today that he supported the decision because he misunderstood it.
Milanka Opacic of the SDP reiterated that the Law on Political Parties envisaged exclusively allocations to parliamentary parties, but no compensations for independent deputies.
"This is a dangerous precedent because some deputies might leave their clubs in order to obtain compensation," Opacic said.
She added that the decision was motivated by the fact that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was for the first time short of votes in the parliament and had therefore introduced political trade.
Ljubica Lalic of the HSS warned that the decision did not envisage that MPs had to specify on what they spent their compensation.
Dragutin Lesar of the Croatian People's Party (HNS) said that after the HSS's complaint to the Constitutional Court, his party too had submitted a request to the parliament for a correct interpretation of the Law on Political Parties.
Miroslav Rozic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) said the decision was motivated by attempts to save Foreign Minister Miomir Zuzul, whose price he said was eight million kuna, the amount to be allocated to all independent and minority representatives.
Asked why they did not invite representatives of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) to the conference, Opacic said that after recent statements by IDS officials they were no longer certain whether the party was still part of the opposition.
Most parties in the parliament have independent deputies among their ranks, with the SDP having the most (five) independent MPs, who at the same time are members of the party's club of deputies.