ZAGREB, May 19 (Hina) - Should Serbs who fled Croatia, be given compensation for tenancy rights they had held before their departure if they want to come back? Could they purchase flats during the Homeland War or could not? These are
questions that marked Friday afternoon's discussion the Croatian House of Representatives held on draft amendments to the law on the areas of special state concern. Serbs in Knin could have purchased flats but they did not as they did not recognise the Croatian authorities, asserted Jure Radic of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). This stirred a heated debate whether Serbs in the then occupied Croatian areas (which were under Serb rebels' control) could buy the flats where they lived or they could not and whether they were evicted. Nenad Stazic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) added fuel to the flames saying that citizens of the Serb nationality, who believed in
ZAGREB, May 19 (Hina) - Should Serbs who fled Croatia, be given
compensation for tenancy rights they had held before their
departure if they want to come back? Could they purchase flats
during the Homeland War or could not? These are questions that
marked Friday afternoon's discussion the Croatian House of
Representatives held on draft amendments to the law on the areas of
special state concern.
Serbs in Knin could have purchased flats but they did not as they did
not recognise the Croatian authorities, asserted Jure Radic of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
This stirred a heated debate whether Serbs in the then occupied
Croatian areas (which were under Serb rebels' control) could buy
the flats where they lived or they could not and whether they were
evicted.
Nenad Stazic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) added fuel to the
flames saying that citizens of the Serb nationality, who believed
in the then President Tudjman's call during the 1995 "Flash" and
"Storm" to stay, did remain in Croatia but "six foot under".
Deputies of the largest opposition party - the HDZ - responded
strongly to it, describing Stazic's words as a lie and asserted that
nobody suffered for believing in Tudjman's statement.
After 38 official rebuttals a Sabor Vice President, Mato Arlovic,
discontinued the discussion and gave a reprimand to Stazic for his
statement.
After that Zdravko Tomac of the SDP refused the claim of the
opposition that the acts on the areas of the special state concern
and on reconstruction negated all what was achieved in the Homeland
War.
It is incorrect as we won the war and established an independent and
sovereign state. The guts of the matter is what Croatia's national
interests are and whether these acts are in that interest, he
added.
"The ruling six-party coalition maintains that they (the acts) are
of the Croatian national interest and that's why it sticks to them.
Our goal is to create a stronger and more just state. Therefore, let
us leave behind debates on the past and think of the future," Tomac
called on MPs.
Then a short and peaceful discussion ensued on draft amendments to
the act on the restriction in tobacco products' use and on a report
of the management over the state commodity stockpiles in 1999.
Owing to a lack of quorum the voting on the laws was postponed for
next week.
(hina) mm ms