IVANISEVIC THINKS DRAFT STATE BUDGET SHOULD BE ADOPTED

ZAGREB, March 15 (Hina) - The president of the Croatian parliament's House of Counties, Katica Ivanisevic, on Wednesday said she thought the government's draft state budget for this year should be endorsed. Ivanisevic was commenting announcements by the bench of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the majority party in the Upper House, that it would not endorse the draft budget. The House of Representatives does not have the obligation to accept the opinion of the Upper House, Ivanisevic said. If the Upper House resorts to its constitutional right and veto the adoption of the budget, Ivanisevic will "have to call a session on the matter." HDZ's main objections to the government's draft budget refer to reconstruction, care for refugees and displaced persons, road- building, and the stimulation of entrepreneurship for which, the HDZ maintains, insufficient funds have been earmarked. The HDZ also objects to the government's departing from promises made before parliamentary elections that it would not cut the salaries of some 250,000 public sector workers. "I would however let the government cope with this solution. If it manages to improve it, the better for Croatia, if not, then it will be the government's responsibility," said Ivanisevic. In the wake of the debate on the draft budget, but in previous months as well, there have been claims the Upper House should be dissolved. "That would be a step backwards (...) that would be a negation of democratic principles," said Ivanisevic. We can discuss the election of representatives to the Upper House and its powers, but "all else is unquestionable," said Ivanisevic, who just returned from the World Senate Forum in Paris. She reminded two directions were important for parliamentary life on the international level in the last 30 years, namely the expansion of the two-house system and the strengthening of inter- parliamentary co-operation. (hina) ha jn