ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - Most parliamentary benches believe that a debate on irregularities in the sale of the Suncani Hvar hotel company opened the issue relating to the thirteen-year-old privatisation model in Croatia and, as was
pointed out, was followed with great dissatisfaction in the public.
ZAGREB, April 9 (Hina) - Most parliamentary benches believe that a
debate on irregularities in the sale of the Suncani Hvar hotel
company opened the issue relating to the thirteen-year-old
privatisation model in Croatia and, as was pointed out, was
followed with great dissatisfaction in the public. #L#
Disputes in the coalition concerning Suncani Hvar amnestied the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) off its privatisation practises
which hit rock bottom, Damir Kajin said on behalf of the Istrian
Democratic Assembly (IDS) bench.
It is certain that the public is one hundred percent against
privatisation in general because, as Kajin said, until now, in 90
percent of the cases, it ended in some form of deceit.
"The question here is not the questionability of the privatisation
of Suncani Hvar but were we for privatisation at all," Kajin said.
The ruling coalition did not conduct an audit of the transformation
process that occurred during the HDZ rule and in that way the
opposition amnestied 200 wealthy families and business tycoons
while the remainder of the economy was torn apart and left behind
frustrated workers, he said. He accused the new government of
deceiving the public by saying that it would audit the
privatisation process and bring everything back to square one.
Speaking on behalf of the Democratic Centre's (DC) bench, Vesna
Skare Ozbolt supported the idea of a moratorium on all
privatisation processes until a new parliament is convened.
Speaking on behalf of the Croatian Social Liberal Party's (HSLS)
bench, Josko Kontic pointed out that once the privatisation of
Suncani Hvar was halted no-one bothered to initiate the question of
responsibility of the Supervisory Board of the Croatian
Privatisation Fund (HFP). The Management Board of HFP once again
re-nominated the same ministers who participated in the original
privatisation process, Kontic said, noting that at the same time
the coalition continued to constantly conduct talks about
redefining the concept of privatisation and about the need for a new
model for managing state owned property.
Kontic advocated that Sabor request the Interior Ministry to
conduct an investigation in line with the law on criminal
proceedings and to submit a report to Sabor regarding the matter
within 30 days.
Zlatko Kramari} of the Liberal Party (LS) said that the
privatisation model should be changed and that the HFP cannot be
released of its responsibility and manage the facilities on behalf
of the government.
Jozo Rados of the Libra bench, said that negative consequences of
the failure to privatise Suncani Hvar would emerge as early as this
summer because the company would at the end come looking for help
from the state budget or further loans.
The affair surrounding Suncani Hvar virtually halted any
privatisation in the country for almost six months.
Speaking on behalf of the HDZ bench, Ivan Suker concluded that MPs
were not shown relevant indicators regarding the sale of Suncani
Hvar. He requested a state audit of the entire process.
Mato Arlovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) pointed out that
an audit should be conducted to investigate if any intentional
violation occurred during the sale of Suncani Hvar. He added,
however, that Suncani Hvar itself, its employees and residents of
Hvar lost the most in this affair because the privatisation of the
company would certainly not continue before the year's end because
of the coming elections.
Had the government not reverse its decision to sell Suncani Hvar to
the Slovenian Terme Catez, the repercussions for Croatia itself
would have been immeasurable because it would have affirmed
behaviour that is unacceptable in the business world, president of
the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) and Sabor President Zlatko
Tomcic said. His party came into conflict with its main coalition
partner, the SDP, over the issue of privatisation.
Tomcic presented data that showed that the offer of another Slovene
company, Kompas, was more favourable than that of Terme Catez.
Responding to objections by MPs, Tourism Minister Pave Zupan-
Ruskovic pointed out that the sale of Suncani Hvar to Slovenia's
Terme Catez was more favourable because their offer would have
meant the hotel would have been operational all year round with a
new quality of services which would give new content to the entire
destination.
With the conclusion of party benches presenting their party's views
Sabor ended the day's sitting. Parliament will continue the debate
on irregularities in the sale of Suncani Hvar to Terme Catez on
Thursday with MPs individually presenting their views.
(Hina) sp it sb