PARLIAMENT: INDEPENDENT HSLS LIBERALS BENCH SET UP

ZAGREB, July 8 (Hina) - Six Social Liberals (HSLS), who oppose the policy of party president Drazen Budisa, on Monday formed the bench of Independent HSLS Liberals, and with the support of four resigned HSLS government members requested Budisa's resignation. #L# HSLS deputies Ivo Skrabalo, Zrinjka Glovacki-Bernardi, Zeljko Pavlic, Mladen Godek, Viktor Broz, and Goranko Fizulic broke up with Budisa after voting for the ratification of the Croatian- Slovene agreement on the Krsko nuclear power plant, thus supporting the coalition government. The whip of the Independent Liberals is Ivo Skrabalo, who said that Budisa's political decisions had caused the fall of the government and the HSLS's departure. The six were supported at a press conference today by HSLS ministers Jozo Rados, Hrvoje Kraljevic, and Andro Vlahusic, Deputy Finance Minister Damir Kustrak, Deputy Environmental Protection Minister Roland Zuvanic, and an HSLS member and resigned vice-premier Goran Granic. The newly established bench has called on Budisa to resign and on other HSLS deputies and members to re-establish liberalism in the party and join them. Although Budisa has announced the exclusion of party members who he said had put themselves in the function of other parties, the Independent Liberals have said they do not intend to leave the HSLS. They said that their disagreement with Budisa was not caused only by their support for the coalition and government, but also by the way Budisa was heading the party. Rados said that Budisa was leading the HSLS in an authoritarian and undemocratic way, causing the party to lose its attribute "liberal". The new bench will appoint Rados to participate in negotiations regarding the composition of the new government. (hina) rml sb