ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic on Thursday said he expected a significant economic growth, higher living standards and a decrease in unemployment in 2002. Commenting on coalition activities in the first half
of its mandate, Tomcic said at a press conference it was true the ruling coalition had been a bit disoriented at the beginning of the mandate, and was then forced to make some unpopular moves, which caused the coalition authorities' popularity to drop. Such moves were followed by more systematic activities in the legislature, as well as on the macroeconomic plan. The latest statistical data show progress, which citizens, unfortunately, have not felt yet, Tomcic said. He added a more visible increase in the living standards was expected already in 2002. During 2001, the parliament held ten sessions in 93 working days. It discussed a total of 424 items, including 253 laws. A tot
ZAGREB, Dec 20 (Hina) - Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic on
Thursday said he expected a significant economic growth, higher
living standards and a decrease in unemployment in 2002.
Commenting on coalition activities in the first half of its
mandate, Tomcic said at a press conference it was true the ruling
coalition had been a bit disoriented at the beginning of the
mandate, and was then forced to make some unpopular moves, which
caused the coalition authorities' popularity to drop.
Such moves were followed by more systematic activities in the
legislature, as well as on the macroeconomic plan. The latest
statistical data show progress, which citizens, unfortunately,
have not felt yet, Tomcic said. He added a more visible increase in
the living standards was expected already in 2002.
During 2001, the parliament held ten sessions in 93 working days. It
discussed a total of 424 items, including 253 laws. A total of 202
laws and one constitutional law have been passed.
Expressing satisfaction with the amount of completed work, Tomcic
said he was not satisfied with the fact that a small number of
undisciplined MPs, who irregularly attended plenary sessions and
the sessions of working bodies, were compromising the reputation of
the entire parliament.
Tomcic said the most important items of the last parliamentary
sitting were reformation laws, the budget for 2002, and the
ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with
the EU.
Following the ratification of the SAA in the European Parliament,
the Croatian parliament and government will next year have to
dedicate themselves to lobbying in the parliaments of the 15 EU
member-states so that Croatia could meet requirements for
submitting a full membership request as soon as possible, Tomcic
said.
(Hina) np sb