ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - Parliament's House of Representatives on Thursday morning wrapped up a debate on a constitutional amendments motion. MPs should vote in the evening, after the Committee on the Constitution considers some 70
amendments which MPs submitted to the motion. During a break in the session, bench presidents are conducting party and inter-party consultations. The Croatian Party of Rights/Croatian Christian Democratic Union bench, willing to vote in favour of the amendments yesterday, subsequently made its vote conditional on the rejection of an amendment proposing a binding mandate for MPs. The bench said it would request postponing the voting. After today's meeting of its head committee, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said it would vote in favour of the amendments only if its 18 amendments were adopted and some proposed by the ruling six-party coalition were turned down. HDZ urg
ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Hina) - Parliament's House of Representatives on
Thursday morning wrapped up a debate on a constitutional amendments
motion. MPs should vote in the evening, after the Committee on the
Constitution considers some 70 amendments which MPs submitted to
the motion.
During a break in the session, bench presidents are conducting
party and inter-party consultations.
The Croatian Party of Rights/Croatian Christian Democratic Union
bench, willing to vote in favour of the amendments yesterday,
subsequently made its vote conditional on the rejection of an
amendment proposing a binding mandate for MPs. The bench said it
would request postponing the voting.
After today's meeting of its head committee, the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ) said it would vote in favour of the
amendments only if its 18 amendments were adopted and some proposed
by the ruling six-party coalition were turned down. HDZ urges not
encroaching upon the original foundations of the Constitution and
the electoral system.
The most important amendment encroaching upon the original
foundations is the one put forward by the Istrian Democratic
Assembly, which proposed adding Bosniaks, Slovenes, and the Romany
to the article enumerating autochtonous national minorities.
HDZ bench president Vladimir Seks said the proposal on the
imperative mandate did not come from the strongest opposition
party, but that HDZ would okay it were the ruling coalition to
propose it.
Towards the end of today's debate, Justice Minister Stjepan
Ivanisevic commented on remarks to a proposal on the introduction
of local and regional self-government. Local self-government does
not lead to the federalisation of Croatia, he said.
He said self-government was a shield against the concentration of
political power in the state, that it gave much more citizens the
possibility to participate in politics, and facilitated the
solving of many issues on local level.
Commenting on criticism that the amendments were an attempt to
"infringe on the independence of the judiciary," the justice
minister said a complete exclusiveness of the judiciary in the
sense of a system aiming to be isolated from society could be
considered only as a "wrong interpretation of independence."
(hina) ha jn