ZAGREB, Oct 12 (Hina) - Parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic interrupted Thursday's House of Representatives session around 12.30 hours after assessing the debate on two draft declarations on the Homeland Defence War was unproductive.
He called a 15.00 hrs meeting for all bench presidents to agree on the afternoon continuation of the session. Tomcic said the debate suffered from a deluge of rebuttals to every MP speech, and that it revolved around everything but the war. He assessed it had taken the wrong direction. The first wave of rebuttals followed after Ivo Sanader of the formerly ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which moved one draft declaration, said the new government had been unable to solve even one economic problem in its eight months in office, but that it had succeeded in polarising the people. He added the current economic problems were deeper than before the January 3 elections. MPs of
ZAGREB, Oct 12 (Hina) - Parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic
interrupted Thursday's House of Representatives session around
12.30 hours after assessing the debate on two draft declarations on
the Homeland Defence War was unproductive.
He called a 15.00 hrs meeting for all bench presidents to agree on
the afternoon continuation of the session.
Tomcic said the debate suffered from a deluge of rebuttals to every
MP speech, and that it revolved around everything but the war. He
assessed it had taken the wrong direction.
The first wave of rebuttals followed after Ivo Sanader of the
formerly ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which moved one
draft declaration, said the new government had been unable to solve
even one economic problem in its eight months in office, but that it
had succeeded in polarising the people. He added the current
economic problems were deeper than before the January 3 elections.
MPs of the ruling six-party coalition countered by saying Croatia
had joined NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and the World
Trade Organisation, that the new government had returned a big part
of former state debts, cut contributions for pension and health
insurance, and rehabilitated the health fund, among else.
The second wave of rebuttals came after Social Democratic Party's
Mato Arlovic said he did not see why the homeland war should be
debated in parliament as it had been a defence war from the Serb
aggression which helped create independent and democratic Croatia.
He urged prosecuting people suspected of having committee crimes
during the war because the veterans had fought for a law-based
state.
Many MPs of the formerly ruling party responded, with Ljerka
Mintas-Hodak saying Arlovic was not sensitive enough as it had been
the veterans who demanded a debate on the homeland war.
HDZ bench president Vladimir Seks said there were many reasons for
the debate, such as numerous veterans' protest rallies, a letter by
12 generals, a bishops' message, and many statements by the highest
state officials who, he asserted, called for a political squaring
of accounts with those with a different opinion.
(hina) ha