ZAGREB, July 19 (Hina) - The presidents of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) told reporters on Wednesday there were no significant differences between their two parties, confirming a strong
commitment to keep the ruling coalition stable. "We have agreed there are no significant oscillations in relation to our coalition strategy of two years ago," SDP's Ivica Racan, the Prime Minister, told a joint news conference in Zagreb. He announced the two parties' leaderships would meet towards the end of August and not sooner because mutual problems were minor ones. "Because there are no conceptual differences between our parties, the HSLS never even considered some alternative position for itself," said Budisa. He assessed as successful the government's work thus far, pointing out the government's failure would be HSLS' failure as well. T
ZAGREB, July 19 (Hina) - The presidents of the Social Democratic
Party (SDP) and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) told
reporters on Wednesday there were no significant differences
between their two parties, confirming a strong commitment to keep
the ruling coalition stable.
"We have agreed there are no significant oscillations in relation
to our coalition strategy of two years ago," SDP's Ivica Racan, the
Prime Minister, told a joint news conference in Zagreb. He
announced the two parties' leaderships would meet towards the end
of August and not sooner because mutual problems were minor ones.
"Because there are no conceptual differences between our parties,
the HSLS never even considered some alternative position for
itself," said Budisa.
He assessed as successful the government's work thus far, pointing
out the government's failure would be HSLS' failure as well. The two
parties are chief partners in the government's ruling six-party
coalition.
Budisa announced the SDP and the HSLS would run in coalition for
elections for parliament's House of Counties in 2001.
Budisa and Racan held a joint news conference to brief the public on
the results of a meeting they held last Sunday at the former's
country house to clear disagreements between the SDP and the HSLS.
"I am satisfied with the meeting with Budisa. We have concluded that
the problems are not so big as to demand a meeting between the
leaderships of our parties," said Racan.
The two officials conveyed the uniform position that all coalition
partners could contribute to maintaining the government's
stability by discussing possible differences within the six-party
coalition and not by aggravating inter-party relations.
"Without a stable government and a stable state it is impossible to
achieve the programme objectives we promised the voters on January
3," said Budisa.
He reiterated he had no intention of entering Racan's government,
and that demands for doing so had not been the official standpoint
of his party.
Prime Minister Racan said a government reshuffling was possible,
but declined to say whether it would lead to a change in the number
of ministries.
Budisa and Racan denied the existence of different concepts in
connection with the privatisation of public enterprise, as well as
that the matter had resulted in a conflict between SDP's Deputy
Prime Minister Slavko Linic and the president of the Croatian
Privatisation Fund, HSLS' Hrvoje Vojkovic.
(hina) ha mm