CROATIAN MP'S PRESENT QUESTIONS TO GOVERNMENT

( Editorial: --> 6093 ) ZAGREB, 21 Jan (Hina) - The Government expects that prices will register a considerable decrease in the next several months, as the average tax rates of 26 per cent have been reduced to 22 per cent, which is the rate of value added tax (VAT), Croatian Finance Minister Borislav Skegro said during Wednesday's question hour in the Parliament House of Representatives. "That is why the Government does not expect that the inflation rate will increase due to VAT, but it also does not want all price increases to be connected only with VAT, because they are in no way connected with VAT," Skegro said. During the question hour, MPs presented several questions on Croatia's foreign policy to Government representatives. Croatia's view on Prevlaka, its southernmost peninsula bordering with Montenegro, is that Prevlaka is a security and not a territorial issue. Croatia's view is supported by all resolutions of the U.N. Security Council, the Badinter commission and some most important international factors, said Foreign Minister Mate Granic, answering a question by Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) on the six-month extension of the U.N. peace mission in Prevlaka. We believe that this is the last extension of the mandate, Granic said, adding that negotiations with Yugoslavia would be aimed at establishing the exact borderline, as should be done in talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia as well. Confirming Djapic's statement that only Croatia cooperates with the Hague Tribunal, Granic said that Croatia was doing it "for the sake of its own credibility". "We don't want to be a hostage to comparison," he said, adding that Croatia is not satisfied with the fact that only four persons have been indicted for war crimes committed against Croats in 1991, that numerous well-documented mass crimes committed in Croatian areas from Petrinja to Dubrovnik are not being processed and that no one in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been indicted for war crimes against Croats. Vlado Jukic of the HSP wanted to know whether there was any news concerning the issue of succession and war reparations. Those two questions should be considered separately, Granic said. So far, there has not been enough willingness on the part of the international community to solve that problem and Belgrade has refused the latest proposal by international representatives, he added. Croatia will wait for the answer until March and then it has the possibility - as all other former Yugoslav states - of addressing the U.N. Security Council, the Foreign Minister said. As regards war reparations, a joint commission for war reparations was set up in line with the Agreement on the Normalisation of Relations Between Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the last meeting of the commission, Croat representatives reiterated the problem of war reparations, Granic said. Boris Kandare of the HSP asked when the Croatian army (HV) units would be present in the Danube River region. Premier Zlatko Matesa said that the operational organisation of Croatian army units was under the jurisdiction of the HV main headquarters. Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) asked when the problem of Slovene workers' holiday homes would be solved. Slovene holiday homes in Croatia cannot be used currently in line with a Government regulation. The problem would be solved with a property agreement between the two states, Premier Matesa said. During the question hour, representatives of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS) and Croatian Pure Party of Rights (HCSP) protested over the fact that a very small number of MPs got the chance to present their questions to the Government. Speaking at a press conference following the question hour, Djurdja Adlesic of the HSLS said that some 20 representatives arrived in Parliament at 6 am today in order to present their questions. There were no MPs from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) among those who arrived at 6 am, she said. Marko Miljevic of the HSS stressed the same problem, adding that only eight MPs managed to present their questions to the Government, although many, he said, got up at 4 am to register for questions. (hina) mm rm 211423 MET jan 98