CROATIAN PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES SECRET SERVICES LAW

ZAGREB, March 6 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday debated a bill on secret services. According to the draft law, Croatia would have three secret services, two civilian and one military. The bill would establish an Intelligence Service (OA), a Counter- Intelligence Service (POA) and a Military Intelligence Service (VOA). The VOA would have jusrisdiction abroad during peace-time, but otherwise work for the Defence Ministry and Croatian Armed Forces. The draft law stipulates the founding of a secret service supervisory body functioning at the National Security Council and the Croatian parliament. Deputy Premier Goran Granic said the intelligence services will not overstep the authority of police, while cooperation of civilians with the services is voluntary. If force is needed, the secret services will have to call the police, Granic said. Secret services in the past years caused dissatisfaction among citizens, primarily due to the tapping of telephones. The new bill stipulates that wiretapping requires the consent of a Supreme Court judge. The parliamentary Internal affairs and National Security Committee has suggested that a County Court judge or several judges should made this decision. The group who proposed the bill defined the supervision of the services within the services themselves, as well as through the National Security Council. Civilian supervision of the intelligence agencies is an open issue. The bill leaves it up to the parliament to solve the problem in the best way possible. Party benches agreed that the new law should secure efficient control of the services to avoid the former abuses, and suggested several ways to do it. Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly said the parliament's opposition parties should control the services. The Social Democratic Party's Ivan Ninic said it is important that the parliament has decisive control of the services, and suggested founding a special state body which would answer to the parliament. The Croatian Peasants' Party, Ante Markov said, advocates a council which would be appointed by the parliament, and which would control the work of intelligence services. Ivan Jarnjak of the Croatian Democratic Union did not speak in detail about the nature of the body supervising the services, but the party bench, he said, is aware of the importance of efficient control. The bench also insists that the parliament speaker, both in peace-time and war, be a member of the National Security Service. MPs of the ruling party benches were almost unanimous in their assessment that the situation in the security services, inherited from the former HDZ rule when they were used for political purposes, was bad, as was the personnel structure. MPS said one of the most important problems is tapping telephones and secret data gathering. A contract should be signed stipulating that such information should not be secretly acquired or published, they said. The MPs also asked what will happen if an agency director does not get permission from a Supreme Court judge for wiretapping, but such action has already been undertaken. To whom can citizens complain if the Supreme Court judge should make the decision, they asked. The Opposition, the HDZ concretely, warned that the bill does not solve all outstanding issues. The law does not have a contingency plan in event that the president and prime minister do not agree about some reports, decisions or intelligence service directors, HDZ's Ivan Jarnjak asserted. Kajin criticised the government, who proposed the bill, of conspiracy in making up legislation, and claimed the bill is a product of the government and the president, aimed at control of power. (hina) lml sb