PARLIAMENT PRESIDENCY ADOPTS MEASURES FOR MORE EFFECTIVE WORK

ZAGREB, May 31 (Hina) - Croatian Parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic said after today's session of the Parliament Presidency that the biggest problem of the Parliament's frivolous functioning is the result of the fact that parliamentary committees often do not hold sessions, and the main brake in the work of the committees being the boycott of representatives of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party. At today's session, the Parliament Presidency, which was attended by presidents of party benches, adopted short-term measures to avoid the problem of a quorum, according to which bills discussed the previous day would be voted on as the first item on the agenda, starting with the next possible session. Tomcic said the parliament will in autumn adopt more comprehensive measures for a more effective and serious work of the parliament, which means that the focal point of parliamentary work should be transferred to the work of committees, and reduce the tasks of MPs who are often absent from sessions due to their commitments in local self-governments or their memberships in supervisory committees. Asked by reporters whether the Presidency discussed fees for MPs who fail to turn up at parliament sessions, Tomcic said the idea was not discussed. (hina) lml sb