LAW ON MINORITIES SUBMITTED TO PARLIAMENT

ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - The resigned Croatian Government forwarded a bill on national minorities to the parliament on Monday. The bill was forwarded without a regulation on the so-called positive discrimination relating to dual voting rights for minorities, the Government told journalists following its session. #L# A draft version of the bill included a regulation with and without dual voting rights for minorities. The bill forwarded to the parliament contains provisions whereby minorities are guaranteed at least five MPs in the Croatian parliament. Minorities that make up more than 1.5 percent of the population in Croatia are guaranteed at least one seat, i.e. as many MPs on par to the number of voters on average required in general for one MP position in the parliament. In other words, the number of MPs representing minorities would be calculated with an unfixed quota supported by the number of votes that were given to the Croatian Diaspora in previous elections. The bill introduces minority self-governments and the bill submitted allows minority self-governments to refer to the constitutionality of issues relating to their jurisdiction. The resigned government also forwarded a bill on new ID cards to the parliament. As a result the new ID cards will not display citizen's personal ID numbers. A final bill concerning the protection and rescue services which will combine these services in relation to catastrophes was also forwarded. Until now the service was divided between the police and armed forces. According to the final version of the bill, the new body would deal with rescue and protection during catastrophes and the service will include the 112 Centre which would collect and distribute information on catastrophes. (hina) sp ms