DC SEEKS PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION ON RELATIONS WITH IMF

SPLIT, Jan 28 (Hina) - The president of the Democratic Centre (DC) party, Mate Granic, told a news conference on Monday that Croatia should review its relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Stressing that the conditions of the stand-by arrangement with the IMF were very strict, Granic warned about the experiences of other countries which have shown that those that blindly carried out the IMF orders fell into big crises, although, he said the Argentinean case did not have to reoccurr in Croatia. But, he added, this is why the government must be careful and should not enter another stand- by arrangement once this one expires. "The government must have its own economic programme, and not allow the number of unemployed in Croatia to rise to 395,000 because of the IMF requests," Granic said, adding that the ruling coalition must first stabilise itself, initiate a parliamentary discussion on relations with the IMF, and tackle economic development more bravely. The DC, he said, has begun collecting signatures in parliament for a discussion on relations with the IMF. DC secretary Slobodan Lang called on politicians to denounce the speech by Maja Freundlich from the Croatian Democratic Union, who, according to the press, has threatened with trials against top officials, President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan. (hina) lml sb