RULING COALITION ON WORK OF LOWER HOUSE AFTER DISSOLVING UPPER H.

ZAGREB, Jan 30 (Hina) - The presidents of the ruling coalition's six parties and their parliamentary benches convened on Monday to discuss passing a constitutional law on the enforcement of the Constitution whereby the lower house would be able to function even after the upper house was dissolved. According to the Constitution, the House of Counties should be dissolved by May 17 at the latest. Elections for the upper house will be held in June. Given that the House of Representatives needs the consent of the upper house to adopt certain laws, its work would be stalled until the appointment of a new upper house. This will be avoided with the passing of a constitutional law on the enforcement of the Constitution. The Monday meeting also addressed the passing of a new electoral law, parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic told reporters. Also tackled were a government motion to reduce state officials' salaries, and a bill on state officials' salaries and pensions. The ruling coalition's senior officials concluded there existed certain imbalances in state officials' salaries and pensions, which has to be resolved systematically, said Tomcic. The coalition leaders also discussed a labour bill. Tomcic said the debate on the aforementioned issues was not over and would resume on Wednesday. He confirmed the Monday debate did not address candidates for the new state prosecutor. (hina) ha