ZAGREB, Oct 29 (Hina) - Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader Zlatko Tomcic said on Wednesday he was "sorry that bad words are being used and fun is being poked at other parties' slogans as a result of the election campaign."
ZAGREB, Oct 29 (Hina) - Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) leader Zlatko
Tomcic said on Wednesday he was "sorry that bad words are being used
and fun is being poked at other parties' slogans as a result of the
election campaign." #L#
Tomcic was commenting on a statement by Social Democratic Party
(SDP) leader Ivica Racan, who said on Tuesday that those who
contribute to the country's construction love their homeland, and
that the love of those who do no nothing in the construction of their
country is skin deep.
"We know that we are not an easy (coalition) partner and that our
conditions are sometimes too hard, but they will always be based on
the protection of national interests and economic progress,"
Tomcic told a press conference in Zagreb at which his party
presented its election platform under the slogan "I Love My Land".
Tomcic said that a vague coalition agreement was the cause of
frequent friction within the ruling coalition.
"If we had had a good coalition agreement, there would have been no
divisions of this kind," the HSS leader said, adding that efforts
would be made to remove the present shortcomings from the next
coalition agreement regardless of who their partner would be.
Asked to comment on the report that the government would refuse to
carry out the parliament's decision that all indictees of the Hague
war crimes tribunal and their attorneys, including fugitive
general Ante Gotovina, should be provided with the necessary
documents, Tomcic said he did not know details of the matter, but
added that he had information that a recommendation had been made to
the government to act on the parliament's decision only in cases in
which the decision was not contrary to international legal
standards.
He stressed that for his party the issue of General Gotovina was not
primarily a legal, but ethical issue.
"There is an evident discrepancy between Croatian and
international laws. This, however, is not an issue that can be
resolved by ad-hoc legal measures, but one that also has a moral
dimension," Tomcic said.
The HSS leader said that all Hague tribunal indictees who
participated in Croatia's war of independence had to have equal
access to documents as the tribunal's prosecutors.
"How the HSS ministers will vote depends on the development of the
debate and the government's explanations," he added.
(hina) vm