ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of Counties on Monday endorsed amendments to the penal code after the amendments ruled out a possibility that the possession of small amounts of drugs could be treated as minor
offence. The Government has abandoned plans about treating the possession of a small quantity of narcotics as minor offence rather than criminal offence because it has concluded that the insistence on former case could postpone the adoption of the entire law, Croatian Deputy Justice Minister Ranko Marijan told the upper house. MPs also gave the green light to a draft act on the prevention of drug addiction. The upper house okayed a final draft bankruptcy act which stipulates that means from bankruptcy estate of a company should first be used to settle debts towards employees. The House of Counties, however, today refused a draft act on an increase in pensions, as, according to C
ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of Counties
on Monday endorsed amendments to the penal code after the
amendments ruled out a possibility that the possession of small
amounts of drugs could be treated as minor offence.
The Government has abandoned plans about treating the possession of
a small quantity of narcotics as minor offence rather than criminal
offence because it has concluded that the insistence on former case
could postpone the adoption of the entire law, Croatian Deputy
Justice Minister Ranko Marijan told the upper house.
MPs also gave the green light to a draft act on the prevention of
drug addiction.
The upper house okayed a final draft bankruptcy act which
stipulates that means from bankruptcy estate of a company should
first be used to settle debts towards employees.
The House of Counties, however, today refused a draft act on an
increase in pensions, as, according to Croatian Democratic Union
(HDZ) deputies who have a majority of the seats in the upper house,
this act deluded retirees rather than redressing the injustice.
During a debate on the document, Srecko Kljunak (a member of the
Croatian Peasants' Party or HSS), cited the basic demands of the
Croatian Party of Pensioners. The party requests that the base of
the pensions should incorporate an addition of 100 kuna and a 6-
percent increase.
The pensioners' party also asked for the definition of the debt
towards retirees as public debt ensured by a foreign currency
clause and that the rise in pensions be tied with the rise in
salaries, so that not later than 2003 pensions could reach the
amount of 70 percent of the average wage.
On behalf of the Government, an assistant to the Social Welfare and
Labour Minister, Ruzica Terza, said those requests could not be
fulfilled as they were not in line with economic possibilities.
She added that even 36 billion kuna should be ensured annually to
meet such demands.
Terza said the draft act on pensions redressed the wrongs but could
not completely redress injustice done to retirees while the HDZ had
been in power when in 1998 the Constitutional Court found that there
were irregularities in the then pensions.
The draft act proposes that pensions earned by the end of 1998
should rise from 0.5 to 20 percent. The highest increase should be
made in pensions earned by the end of 1994. Over 23 billion kuna
should be earmarked from state budgets in the coming 10 yeas for the
settlement of the debt to the pensioners.
The House of Counties will resume its 50th session on Tuesday when
its agenda will be enlarged with some 20 items including a package
on taxation acts and a draft budget for 2001.
(hina) ms