ZAGREB, Nov 21 (Hina) - With only one ministerial vote against, the government on Thursday sent to the parliament the final draft of the Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities, in which the election of minority
representatives in the parliament was not precisely regulated, but had been left for the Electoral Law to deal with the issue.
ZAGREB, Nov 21 (Hina) - With only one ministerial vote against, the
government on Thursday sent to the parliament the final draft of the
Constitutional Law on the Rights of National Minorities, in which
the election of minority representatives in the parliament was not
precisely regulated, but had been left for the Electoral Law to deal
with the issue. #L#
Prime Minister Ivica Racan said that the solution was a passable
guarantee that the Constitutional Law would receive the necessary
two-thirds majority of votes in parliament, that is, 101 votes.
The Electoral Law, besides the general voters' rights, could secure
members of minorities a special right to elect their deputies, the
draft constitutional law says, which was voted against by Science
Minister Gvozden Flego. He believes that the moved law did not live
up to acquired rights.
Both Premier Racan and Vice-Premier Goran Granic stated with regret
that discussions about the moved constitutional law resorted only
to Article 17, that is, the election of minority deputies in
parliament.
Those who have found themselves jeopardised are rising their voices
in particular, Granic said, stressing that "people who made their
ethnic background their occupation" were a problem.
Granic said that the international community and its
representatives did not help the true problem of the issue to be
presented to the public. He said that minority MPs did not have a
reduced, but a general mandate, they did not only represent
minorities, but all citizens.
Granic recalled that minorities now had five MPs in parliament who
had been elected with representatives of minorities deciding
whether they would use the general or special right of vote.
Racan recalled that even now, the election of minority MPs was
regulated by the Electoral Law which stipulated an ordinary
majority of votes instead of a two-thirds majority.
The announcements by some members of national minorities that they
would request interventions from Belgrade or Rome do not help,
Racan said.
He expressed hope that an agreement could be reached without any
outside intervention.
The moved constitutional Law guarantees the right to
representatives of minorities to freely use their language and
script, the right to cultural autonomy and free contacts with their
homeland.
The draft regulates the election of minority self-governments,
that is, the representatives of minorities in local units,
envisages the establishment of a council for national minorities --
a body which would discuss, suggest and solve issues of importance
to the realisation and protection of the rights and freedoms of
minorities.
(hina) lml sb