MIROSLAV TUDJMAN: COALITION IS ABOUT TO BREAK DOWN

ZAGREB, June 28 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian True Revival party (HIP), Miroslav Tudjman, said on Friday that the ruling coalition was about to break up because it had no programme, without which it was impossible to lead the country. #L# The government is unable to drag the country out of the crisis and is also destructive because it negates basic national values, Tudjman said at a news conference, adding that parties of the coalition were in conflict. He also said that because of the situation within the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), this party was no longer an alternative. With his statements, the president of the HDZ, Ivo Sanader, "opened the gates to a true coalition between the HDZ and the ruling parties," Tudjman said. He added that two political options were being created -- a large Social Democratic Party (SDP) and HDZ coalition, and the HDZ and Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS). He concluded that the HIP was the only alternative, the only political party with a clear economic and national programme to solve the crisis. Tudjman said that his party, therefore, expected to be "demonised and disqualified". (hina) lml sb