HDZ OFFICIAL: RISE IN PETROL PRICES ANOTHER BLOW TO LIVING STANDARDS

ZAGREB, Aug 14 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) vice- president Jadranka Kosor has said that the latest increase in the price of petrol is yet another blow to the standard of living and purchasing power of Croatian citizens. #L# The latest rise in the prices of oil products will probably cause other prices to rise at a time when, according to polls, as many as 80 percent of citizens consider themselves poor and 45 percent are barely making ends meet, Kosor said at a news conference on Thursday. She said that it was unacceptable that citizens had not been informed about the increase in petrol prices by the Economy Ministry, but learned of it at petrol stations. She voiced concern over the amount of the country's foreign debt, which she claimed the incumbent authorities had increased from the inherited amount of nine million dollars to 19 million. The HDZ will urge that this topic be discussed at the parliament's first autumn session, she said. The HDZ official believes that the government should have been prepared better for the fires which have been raging along the coast. Budgetary funds intended for firefighters are insufficient and units of local government lack their own funds, she said. The HDZ wonders who has given the order to send a firefighting plane to help put out a fire in Montenegro. "We can help neighbours fight fires, but we must first put out fires here," she said, adding that the party would urge the government to answer these questions. Kosor also wondered why the president of the republic and the premier had not commented on the latest incidents including the desecration of a monument to a Croatian war hero and the appearance of Serb nationalist graffiti, and why they had not travelled to Knin for Homeland Thanksgiving Day to lay wreaths. Asked why HDZ president Ivo Sanader had not been in Knin, Kosor said that he would have gone there if he were the premier. (hina) rml