ISTRIANS PROPOSING REFERENDUM ON SALE OF LAND MEET MESIC

PULA, Sept 5 (Hina) - A member of a committee urging the organisation of a referendum to revise the sale of land in Istria, Nenad Klapcic, told reporters on Friday committee members were satisfied with this week's talks with President Stjepan Mesic, whom they acquainted with their campaign to collect more than 12,000 signatures to hold a referendum on the issue. #L# Klapcic said that Mesic was surprised at the fact that local authorities had not been included in the "Brijuni - Rivijera" project from its start. "We drew the President's attention to the unacceptable practice of selling land in the areas of Barbariga and Dragonera before the adoption of changes to the physical plan by the county assembly," Klapcic said, adding that the committee would continue mobilising the public, which he believes "has realised that this is about selling land to foreigners rather than about tourist development". Klapcic said that the committee would continue with its activities until the County Assembly's harmful decisions were annulled and the privatisation of land in Istria over the past several years was revised. "If the County Assembly and its leadership are confident that the land opposite Brijuni was sold regularly... we see no reason why they would obstruct a referendum on the future of our valuable coast," Klapcic said. He called on parliamentary deputy Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) party to support the committee's proposal to set up a parliamentary commission to investigate the lawfulness of state bodies' activities in cases when the purpose of land in Barbariga and Dragonera was changed following its sale and when the "Brijuni-Rivijera" company was established without the previous consent of municipal and city councils. (hina) rml