HDZ, HSLS BENCHES GIVE UP ON DEBATE ON COOPERATION WITH HAGUE

ZAGREB, Oct 17 (Hina) - The benches of the opposition's HDZ and HSLS decided at a parliament presidency session on Thursday they would withdraw from the current parliament session's agenda their motions for a debate on changes to a constitutional law on cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal and a moratorium on the cooperation pending a Constitutional Court ruling. #L# The two motions will be included on the agenda of the current parliament session after the other items have been voted on, parliament president Zlatko Tomcic said, adding that the motions' sponsors would then be asked to state if they wanted to withdraw them. Asked if Prime Minister Ivica Racan, who attended today's session, had been in favour of debating the HDZ and HSLS motions, Tomcic reiterated that both he and the PM had said that if there were parties which wanted a parliamentary debate on the matter, it should be held at once. Asked if the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) and HSLS (Social Liberals) benches had renounced their motions for good, Tomcic said that, according to parliament's rules, parties which withdrew items from the agenda could later demand that these be reinstated which, he added, was a matter of political decisions. (hina) ha