ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Almost all parliamentary benches on Wednesday supported the government's draft law on subsidies which provides insight into the extent of subsidies and fulfils the obligation of harmonising Croatian laws
concerning subsidies with European Union regulations.
ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Almost all parliamentary benches on
Wednesday supported the government's draft law on subsidies which
provides insight into the extent of subsidies and fulfils the
obligation of harmonising Croatian laws concerning subsidies with
European Union regulations. #L#
Opposition party benches voiced disagreement with the law being
passed in urgent procedure, because they said that the draft did not
clearly define the jurisdiction of the state's subsidy agency, the
establishment of which has been suggested, nor its relationship
with government institutions.
Only the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) bench said it would abstain
from voting on the bill, since, as Tonci Tadic said, the bill
allowed the EU to dictate the subsidy system in Croatia, although
"Croatia will not see the European Union for a long time."
"Our companies will run in the market race with the EU with their
hands and feet tied, because the EU will not allow our companies to
bring into question the competitiveness of theirs," Tadic said.
Deputy Finance Minister Damir Kustrak said the goal of the bill was
to establish a transparent form of a general subsidy system, but
stressed that the law would not apply to the farm support and
subsidies in fishing, which are regulated by another law.
He explained the urgency to pass the bill with the fact that signing
a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, the Croatian
government had pledged to harmonise the subsidy system with EU's
regulations by December 1.
(hina) lml sb