ZAGREB, June 11 (Hina) - The draft bill on political parties that was made by a group of experts at the Croatian Legal Centre is too extensive, detailed and standardised, the majority of representatives of political parties and MPs
said at Tuesday's discussion entitled "Legislature and Citizens", organised by the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.
ZAGREB, June 11 (Hina) - The draft bill on political parties that
was made by a group of experts at the Croatian Legal Centre is too
extensive, detailed and standardised, the majority of
representatives of political parties and MPs said at Tuesday's
discussion entitled "Legislature and Citizens", organised by the
Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. #L#
The bill foresees 100,000 kuna (around $US12,500) as the annual
donation limit for political parties. It is proposed that non-
parliamentary parties, too, receive some funding in line with
certain conditions. The bill also envisages that membership fees
account for 10 to 20 percent of the parties' revenue and that
parties cannot own companies.
The draft includes 109 articles, it is too detailed and requires too
much administration from parties, and small parties will not be
able to meet all the bureaucratic requirements, an assistant to a
presidential adviser, Ivica Mastruko, said in support of a briefer
and less detailed draft.
Croatia needs a law that will enable the development of modern
political parties. The existing draft bill does not allow this,
Dorica Nikolic of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) said.
She said that the draft stimulated bureaucracy and rendered
political activities more expensive.
Zdravko Tomac of the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) said that
relations among political parties did not have to be standardised
because they were quite unique, however, he emphasised that
political voluntarism should be eliminated. He considers that the
draft lacks an analysis of the situation and clear objectives.
Vesna Skare Ozbolt of the Democratic Centre (DC) said that the
section of the draft referring to funding for political parties had
been drawn up well, however, she believes the issue should be
regulated with a separate law. She said that some sections were too
theoretical and inapplicable to current circumstances.
Nenad Stazic (SDP) agreed that Croatia needed a law that would
regulate the activities of parties, however, he warned that other
institutions of civil society were emerging that wanted to be
politically involved. Regulations that apply to political parties
should apply to allow the participation of those institutions in
elections, Stazic said.
Commenting on the objections stated, Ivan Prpic, a professor at the
Faculty of Political Science and head of the team of experts that
has drawn up the bill, noted that the law on political parties in
Great Britain had 402 pages and that without good laws there could
be no proper political practice.
Gvozden Flego, a member of the executive board of the Croatian
Helsinki Committee, said that the Sabor Committee on the
Constitution and Political System had already accepted the draft as
the basis for a bill on political parties. In this regard, he
considers the draft a significant step in political life and the
beginning of a tighter co-operation between civil society and
legislative authorities.
(hina) sp rml