ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Liberal Party (LS) leader, Zlatko Kramaric will insist, during negotiations on the composition of the new Croatian government, on the definition of its programme and priorities and on necessary changes in
some ministerial posts and the offices of vice premiers.
ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Liberal Party (LS) leader, Zlatko
Kramaric will insist, during negotiations on the composition of the
new Croatian government, on the definition of its programme and
priorities and on necessary changes in some ministerial posts and
the offices of vice premiers. #L#
The LS will not consent on the preservation of the status quo in the
new cabinet, given that the entire problem of the resigned
government cannot be reduced to the issue of Drazen Budisa,
Kramaric said at a news conference on Thursday.
It is not fair when some ministers show fear that they may lose their
ministerial posts. The LS urges changes, and the party presidency
will be convened to decide on further steps in case no alteration be
made in the new government, the LS chief added.
The new cabinet should immediately be formed and it should do its
duties until the end of term. It is necessary to change the style of
administration and the style in the public relations, as this was a
problem of the outgoing government, Kramaric said.
In Kramaric's opinion the turns in events around announcement for
the reduction of the government was "a game of the person who
generated the government reshuffle."
He commented on the failure to call LS leaders to Wednesday's
session, convened by the prime minister designate (Ivica Racan).
"I would have been glad to come to the Government's Office for the
talks on a constitutional bill on national minorities, given that
LS representatives to the parliament are also minorities' members,
but we want to believe that it was an accidental oversight,"
Kramaric said.
The LS welcomes the set-up of a new party, announced by "Independent
Liberals", after they formed a parliamentary bench upon their
departure from the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS). However,
Independent Liberals should not read LS a lesson, Kramaric said
referring to Wednesday's articles in the media in which Jozo Rados,
one of the independent liberals, said the 1997 split in the HSLS was
caused by a private whim of Zlatko Kramaric.
"At the time it was also about the division in the HSLS between
liberals and non-liberals," the LS president said adding that five
years later Rados came to this conclusion.
LS urges the discontinuation of the practice of dividing parties
into big and small ones.
Kramaric stressed that the LS did not insist on ministerial posts,
but it is illogical that LS, which enjoys good relations with
international organisations, has not been included in the
country's diplomacy.
He reiterated that he was speaking about his party's rights as a
loyal partner in the government.
(hina) ms