ZAGREB, Sept 21 (Hina) - A delegation of the German Parliament's Lower House (Bundestag) visited the Croatian National Sabor on Tuesday. The three-member delegation, headed by Bundestag's representative for Croatia, Georg Pfannenstein
(a member of the ruling Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD), met Parliament President Vlatko Pavletic and representatives of some parliamentary committees and benches. In a discussion with Pavletic, the German guests expressed understanding for Croatia's need, as other south-east European countries, to be given assistance in the development of its economy. Pavletic explained the current procedure of adopting new election laws and stressed election results would be respected. In talks with the president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) bench, Mato Arlovic, Pfannenstein said stabilising economy in the region was a priority task which would contribute to achieving the main goal - pe
ZAGREB, Sept 21 (Hina) - A delegation of the German Parliament's
Lower House (Bundestag) visited the Croatian National Sabor on
Tuesday.
The three-member delegation, headed by Bundestag's representative
for Croatia, Georg Pfannenstein (a member of the ruling
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, SPD), met Parliament
President Vlatko Pavletic and representatives of some
parliamentary committees and benches.
In a discussion with Pavletic, the German guests expressed
understanding for Croatia's need, as other south-east European
countries, to be given assistance in the development of its
economy. Pavletic explained the current procedure of adopting new
election laws and stressed election results would be respected.
In talks with the president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
bench, Mato Arlovic, Pfannenstein said stabilising economy in the
region was a priority task which would contribute to achieving the
main goal - peace in the region. He recalled that Germany's share of
DM1.2 billion granted Germany the key role in the Stability Pact.
At a meeting with the Committee for Inter-parliamentary
Cooperation, headed by Bruno Uroic, Pfannenstein said the
influence of Germany, as a member of the European Union, should not
be overestimated, however its word had weight.
Klaus Willsch of the Christlich Demokratische Union (CDU) wanted to
hear about Croatia's views and arguments regarding its not so rare
complaints that it was being treated in a stricter manner by the EU
than other candidates.
"Measures applied to Croatia are stricter when compared to other
countries", said Stanislav Janovic of the ruling Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ). According to Antun Vujic of the SDP, the
Opposition, too, "has noticed differences" and believes the
requests are too demanding.
Although these requests should be met "also for our own sake, and
not for the sake of the world", Vujic said, "isolationism does not
contribute to developing democracy but rather to strengthening
autarkic structures".
The German delegation, which also included Manfred Mueller (a
member of reformed Communists - PDS), today met the president of the
Committee for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities,
Miroslav Kis.
Within their four-day stay in Croatia, the German parliamentarians
will on Wednesday visit the eastern Croatian towns of Vukovar and
Osijek.
(hina) jn rml