OPPOSITION CRITICISES GOVT. FOR CONTROVERSY WITH BISHOPS

ZAGREB, Nov 13 (Hina) - Croatian opposition parties are continuing to react to a public controversy between the government and bishops. The strongest opposition party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), is very dissatisfied with the government's reaction to the Croatian bishops' statement. The party believes the Church has the right to express its opinion about the current social situation, on behalf of the most endangered strata of the society, HDZ president Ivo Sanader told a press conference on Tuesday. He said the government's criticism of the negative assessment of the situation in the country, recently made by the Croatian Bishops' Conference, was "an utterly unacceptable way of attacking" the Catholic Church. The HDZ president believes putting the Church and the opposition in the same group is unacceptable because the Church is a neutral institution. He reminded that during the HDZ rule, the Church had criticised the authorities, but the then opposition and the current government had nothing against it. He concluded that the government cannot take criticism and that it was not open to dialogue. Sanader reminded of "the dark years of communism in which the Church was humiliated." The Democratic Centre (DC) entirely supports the bishops' statement on the social situation in the country. The party believes the government reaction to the bishops' statement is scandalous behaviour "which takes us back to the times of communism," DC deputy president Vesna Skare Ozbolt told today's press conference. The party demands of the government to apologise to the Croatian public for criticising the bishops and to improve dialogue between the Church and the state. (hina) it sb