ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - The head of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentary bench, Mato Arlovic, commented in an interview with Sunday's issue of the Jutarnji List daily on a possible coalition between the SDP and the
Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), his party's dissatisfaction with some actions of the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the new balance of forces in Croatia's ruling five-party coalition. "The SDP wants agreements on the state level to be reached in an atmosphere of tolerance and coalition programmes and agreements to be respected. If this is not possible, the party which does not want to respect them should face responsibility for rifts in the coalition," Arlovic told the daily. The SDP believes the coalition should be preserved "together with its programme with which it won the elections," and that "it would not be productive to discuss an early election. Should the
ZAGREB, June 10 (Hina) - The head of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) parliamentary bench, Mato Arlovic, commented in an interview
with Sunday's issue of the Jutarnji List daily on a possible
coalition between the SDP and the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS),
his party's dissatisfaction with some actions of the Croatian
Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the new balance of forces in
Croatia's ruling five-party coalition.
"The SDP wants agreements on the state level to be reached in an
atmosphere of tolerance and coalition programmes and agreements to
be respected. If this is not possible, the party which does not want
to respect them should face responsibility for rifts in the
coalition," Arlovic told the daily.
The SDP believes the coalition should be preserved "together with
its programme with which it won the elections," and that "it would
not be productive to discuss an early election. Should the other
parties fail to respect the minimum of the election programme which
won the elections, we are ready to run in another election as part of
certain coalitions."
Asked about possible coalition partners, the SDP official said the
HSS was currently "most certainly one of the most stable parties."
"The line between our parties is strong and stable, not only as
regards political relations but our interests as well."
According to Arlovic, the two parties are dedicated to the
implementation of programmes and projects and do not subject them
to the interests of individual party members. "We don't believe
that each post should be held by a party member but are looking for
the most competent persons, and the fact that a number of our
government ministers are not SDP members bears witness to this," he
said.
Asked if he was referring to the HSLS when he spoke about this
"clientele attitude", Arlovic said it was "obvious and
understandable."
When asked about current relations between the SDP and the HSLS,
Arlovic did not want to comment on HSLS president Drazen Budisa's
claim that communist methods had been used in the "Slobodna
Dalmacija case", but said that "relations between the HSLS and the
SDP do not depend only on relations between the two parties'
presidents."
"The SDP is part of the same coalition as the HSLS, their relations
are sometimes burdened with problems but the coalition still
functions. The HSLS has given many good solutions," he said.
However, "HSLS members are sometimes exerting pressure on their
leadership to provide them with adequate positions in the local
government as well as on the state level. The HSLS has been opposing
this strongly but political assessments which are made
occasionally in that process are never based on the real state of
affairs."
Arlovic says he understands that the HSLS president is having
trouble coordinating different interests in his party and wants him
to succeed and contribute to stability in the coalition. However,
"if this is not possible,... that party will... contribute to an
early election."
"The HSLS' position in the coalition has been weakening and the
party will have to face responsibility in case of an early election
or the reorganisation of the ruling coalition," Arlovic said.
Commenting on the controversial Istria County Statute, the SDP
vice-president denied having stated that he expected the
Constitutional Court to declare the statute unconstitutional. "I
presented my arguments as to why the Istria County Statute is
unconstitutional and I said that, should it decide the same way, I
expected the Constitutional Court to annul the controversial
regulations. Under the Croatian Constitution, the official
language and script in Croatia are the Croatian language and Latin
script and the Constitution provides for the introduction of a
second language or script in some local units. It is not disputable
that a second language can be introduced in the units of local self-
government, Istria County included, however, one cannot say that
Croatian and Italian are equal, but rather that along with the
Croatian language and Latin script Italian can be used as well,"
Arlovic said.
Arlovic believes "the IDS started this issue in order to mobilise
its electorate and win again in the elections, but the Statute gives
one minority greater rights than envisaged by the Constitution. The
IDS has acted unconstitutionally by giving a minority greater
rights than those enjoyed by other minorities."
(hina) rml