SOCIAL LIBERALS SAYS FIVE-PARTY RULING COALITION STILL EXISTS

ZAGREB, June 29 (Hina) - The president of the Social Liberals (HSLS), Drazen Budisa, said on Saturday the ruling five-party coalition still existed. He also stated that under the coalition's agreement, a party may be ousted from the coalition, and added that this right was not contested. #L# Talking to reporters after a session of the HSLS Governing Council, Budisa said this body unanimously supported the stand of the party and its MPs against the ratification of a deal with Slovenia on the Krsko nuclear power plant. Budisa said the fact that the HSLS MPs had walked out of a parliamentary session which was to vote on the ratification of the deal did not mean the party was leaving the ruling coalition but constituted a "move whereby the HSLS wanted to express its disagreement with the moved deal and everything that had gone on that day." "As far as the HSLS is concerned, the five-party coalition stays, but we are also open to other possibilities if this is our partners' political will," said Budisa. Asked if this meant the HSLS might cross over to the opposition, he said "the HSLS has a long experience in the opposition," but added he thought this would not happen. "And if it happened, it wouldn't last long," he said. Asked if a minority government, minus the HSLS, was possible, as the vice president of the Social Democrats, Mato Arlovic, said on radio earlier today, Budisa said he was not authorised to answer this question as it was a matter which should be addressed by the HSLS Governing Council, which this body did not do today. Arlovic announced today that parliament would take another vote on the ratification of the Krsko deal on Wednesday. By walking out yesterday, the HSLS MPs prevented ratification by simple majority. The deal could not be voted on yesterday due to lack of quorum. Not all MPs of the other four coalition parties were present, neither were those of the opposition, which was against the deal. In the meantime, the leaders of the five coalition parties held a meeting which Budisa left early, claiming the issue was not the ratification of a deal but relations within the coalition. The leader of the Social Democrats (SDP), Prime Minister Ivica Racan, said he was not sure the coalition existed anymore. He said the other four partners considered the conduct of the HSLS absolutely inadmissible. Racan urged the partners to take a clear stand regarding the fate and make-up of the coalition. The HSLS maintains the ratification of the Krsko deal is not an issue which should break up the coalition. The party's representatives say they will not leave the coalition of their own will, but that the partners may oust them. The other four parties maintain the HSLS should leave the coalition as a logical course of events after their refusal to ratify the Krsko deal. The only alternative is a minority government or early elections, they say. The possibility of early elections has been mentioned unofficially, as was that of taking a parliamentary vote of no confidence in Budisa as deputy prime minister, with the explanation that he obstructed the government's decision on the ratification of the Krsko deal. Budisa today refuted PM Racan's claims that he had been notified in advance that the prosecution of the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal wanted the transcript of a conversation between Budisa and former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. Budisa said he learned about this less than an hour before a government session. Looking through the document which was shown to him by Racan and his assistant Goran Granic, Budisa said he saw his name on a list of documents wanted by the UN tribunal. He said he did not know when the government had been notified about the tribunal's request. Asked what was contentious in the wanted transcript and why the tribunal wanted it, Budisa said the document "contains nothing which should be of interest to the prosecution, since neither I nor Tudjman are criminals." (hina) ha sb