MATESA & PASALIC ADDRESS FOURTH HDZ CONVENTION

( Editorial: --> 3716 ) ZAGREB, Feb 22 (Hina) - The stability of the democratic order is a condition for maintaining economic growth and successfully implementing reforms necessary for bringing Croatia closer to organised European Union societies, Croatian Premier and member of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Presidency, Zlatko Matesa, said Saturday at the Fourth Convention of the ruling HDZ. For this reason, the HDZ has to persevere with the stability of the democratic order and vehemently oppose all tendencies in certain political parties at achieving in the streets what has not been achieved at elections, Matesa said. The HDZ has to persevere with European criteria of macro-economic stability, regarding inflation, the budget deficit and foreign debts, and on long-term stability of domestic currency, he added. "Industry for the future, technological development and growth based on productivity", according to Matesa, represent a part of the overall economic strategy. The HDZ will incite structural changes which lead from labour- intensive to capital-intensive, i.e. development-intensive industries, and which will become the foundation of a new economic structure. Matesa pointed out unemployment was one of the fundamental problems. Croatia may cope with this problem by inciting economic growth, decreasing tax pressure and labour costs, he said. Regarding social policy, the priorities are displaced persons, returnees, defenders, Homeland War Victims, the retired, socially endangered and the young, who must have the support of the Croatian state within its possibilities, Matesa said. Speaking about the HDZ in relation to Croatian opposition parties, the ruling party's vice-president, Ivic Pasalic, said the HDZ was a party of a "pronounced, pure and full centre". "We are a people's party, of all Croatian citizens, and we have to and shall fight for the interests of all, in particular of the poorer ones, as it is the only way we can stand for general national interests", Pasalic said. As fundamental principles of the Catholic Church's social teaching, social justice and solidarity are also fundamental values of the HDZ, he added. Pasalic believed the activity of opposition parties in the 1990s boiled down to fighting primarily and only the HDZ but, he said, since the very beginning the HDZ had tried to cooperate, even join coalitions. "Even today, despite having strong parliamentary majority and to the effect of further developing multi-party democracy, we call on similar central political parties to cooperation on all levels", the HDZ vice-president said, naming in particular the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian Social Liberal Party and all democratic-Christian parties. As for the Social Democratic Party, Pasalic said, "despite the fact that to a certain degree it presented itself as a modern social democratic party, in the near future it will not succeed in wholly liberating itself form the mortgage of its Communist past." (hina) ha jn 221127 MET feb 98