PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES PROPOSE MINORITY LAW

ZAGREB, Dec 10 (Hina) - The parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, Rule Book, and Political System and the Committee on Human and Minority Rights on Tuesday recommended that the Sabor adopt a new constitutional law on the rights of national minorities. #L# The chairman of the Committee on the Constitution, Rule Book and Political System, Mato Arlovic, reported that MPs had agreed on the basic principle of minority representation in parliament, according to which minorities would elect at least five and no more than eight MPs in a special constituency. That means, Arlovic says, that existing minority rights will not be restricted. According to the proposal, minorities who account for more than 1.5 percent of the population (only the Serb minority) would have at least one and no more than three seats, depending on the voter turnout. Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic said at a session of the Human Rights Committee that the constitutional law defined the minimum number of minority MPs - five, while the election law would include other solutions. Borislav Graljuk (the minority bench) reported that minority representatives and Prime Minister Ivica Racan and Deputy Prime Minister Granic stated at a meeting on Monday that the bill did not define the maximum but the minimum number of minority MPs, while more detailed definitions would be included in the election law. Milan Djukic of the Serb National Party (SNS), who had reservations towards the proposed bill, was satisfied with the fact that the Serb minority would be guaranteed one parliamentary seat at least, while any higher number of seats will depend on the voter turnout. The parliament will discuss the final constitutional bill on minority rights on Thursday and take a vote on it on Friday. The adoption of the bill requires the votes of 101 deputies. (hina) sp rml sb