ZAGREB, May 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday sent into parliamentary procedure a bill enabling it to establish a foundation which would receive the international community's assistance for the refugee return programme.
The foundation would be established by an agreement between the Government, UNHCR, Stability Pact, European Commission and various donors, whereas assistance programmes would be carried out in line with priorities established by Croatia. The Government also sent into parliamentary procedure a bill on the Penal Law increasing protection from domestic violence. However, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic warned there was a flaw in the bill because the document treated unequally domestic violence and violence outside of the family. Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said a small penal reform, i.e. changes to the Penal Law, should result in harsher penalties for all
ZAGREB, May 18 (Hina) - The Croatian Government on Thursday sent
into parliamentary procedure a bill enabling it to establish a
foundation which would receive the international community's
assistance for the refugee return programme.
The foundation would be established by an agreement between the
Government, UNHCR, Stability Pact, European Commission and various
donors, whereas assistance programmes would be carried out in line
with priorities established by Croatia.
The Government also sent into parliamentary procedure a bill on the
Penal Law increasing protection from domestic violence. However,
Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic warned there was
a flaw in the bill because the document treated unequally domestic
violence and violence outside of the family.
Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said a small penal reform, i.e.
changes to the Penal Law, should result in harsher penalties for all
negative developments in economy.
The Government warned that the bill on the rights of parliamentary
representatives, which was prepared by the parliamentary committee
on legislation, contained a set of imprecise and unclear solutions
and some were not even in line with the Law on Pension Insurance.
Prime Minister Ivica Racan believes that amendments to the bill,
which were proposed by the committee, such as the exclusion of the
possibility for an MP to earn the right to an MP's pension after
being a Member of Parliament for only one hour, were an
improvement.
However, he warned there were still some regulations which needed
improvement.
The Government gave its consent for the Croatian oil industry (INA)
to take loans from foreign banks amounting to US$206.4 billion,
which would be used for the purchase of crude oil and additives.
The Government continued today's session with a debate on changes
to the tax system, including changes to the Law on Value Added Tax.
This part of the session is held behind closed doors. According to
the latest information, the Government will not reduce the VAT rate
from 22 to 19 percent and it will confirm with changes the extension
of the deadline for the payment of the VAT from the tenth day of the
month to the end of the month.
Along with the VAT rate, the Government will within the closed part
of the session also consider changes to excise taxes, and profit and
income taxes. It is also expected to decide about the reduction of
rates for pension and health insurance contributions.
The Government also scheduled the constituent session of the Zagreb
City Assembly for May 31.
(hina) jn rml