CROATIAN PARLIAMENT ENDS THIS WEEK'S SESSION

ZAGREB, Nov 30 (Hina) - The findings of the state audit for last year, privatisation policy, stimulating house building and the position of religious communities were the subjects of discussions at the Croatian parliament during its third week of session. Irregularities identified by the state audit are decreasing every year, however, there are still cases of unauthorised spending, the law on procurement is not respected, and there is no internal control, Croatia's Chief Auditor Sima Krasic said on Friday, informing the parliament about a report on audits carried out during 2000. Units of local self-government and administration often have difficulties collecting their claims, seek loans exceeding allowed limits and spend money for purposes other than designated, Krasic said. A total of 896 subjects were included in the audit, with some 90 billion kuna of budgetary funds and pension and health insurance, local administration and self-government funds having been audited. Krasic said that in 2002 the Audit Office would reduce the scope of its regular duties. The Office will continue carrying out compulsory annual audits and direct all other activities to the audit of ownership transformation and privatisation, to be completed by 1 January 2003. The government's privatisation policy in the past year and a half has led to a decrease in daily and overall losses of companies in state ownership, and a decrease of their insolvency, vice-premier Slavko Linic said. He reiterated that the government was not satisfied with the work of managements and supervisory boards of companies, and announced new personnel solutions in state ownership. Parliamentary benches, however, warned about the need for an urgent passing of a new law on privatisation, and a lack of expertise of management and supervisory boards of state-owned companies. The Croatian Democratic Union party moved for a vote of no confidence in Linic, which the parliament discussed and dismissed the motion. The parliament also passed several laws, including on socially stimulating house building which would enable the common people to purchase flats under favourable conditions. The flats will be paid off in instalments in 31 years at the most, with an interest rate of four to five percent. The buyer will deposit 15 percent of the overall price of the apartment, and the monthly instalment for a flat of 50 square metres should be between 350 to 400 German marks. Besides the construction and adaptation of flats, the project would also include the construction of family houses. The MPs also endorsed laws under which excise taxes for vehicles and beer would increase as of January 1, as well as on the introduction of new tax for insurance premiums for vehicles at a 15 percent rate. The MPs discussed the first version of the law on the legal status of religious communities, which envisages the establishment of a registry of such communities at the Justice, Administration and Local Self-Government Ministry. During the discussion, the moot point was whether religious teaching should be introduced in schools. The Opposition mainly advocated the introduction of religious teachings in kindergartens, which the ruling coalition contradicted, assessing that this could lead to segregation among young children. This week's session was also marked by incidents -- parliament speaker Zlatko Tomcic attempted, with futility, to remove independent MP Ivo Loncar from the session. The parliament's guard was called to intervene, but Loncar left only when he decided to do so. (hina) lml sb