DEPUTY MINISTER OUTLINES CROATIAN SYSTEM AT BUDAPEST LEGAL FORUM

( Editorial: --> 8484 ) BUDAPEST, April 21 (Hina) - A conference discussing the building of a faster, more efficient and completely independent judiciary in central and eastern European countries opened in Budapest on Tuesday. Justice ministers and experts from 10 countries are attending the Legal Forum of Central and Eastern Europe during the next two days. Croatian Deputy Justice Minister Snjezana Bagic outlined the features of the Croatian legal system in an address to the conference on its opening day. She said, inter alia, that the independent Croatia inherited constitutional, legal and economic systems and cadres of the socialist Yugoslavia. That is why it was necessary to carry out reforms that encompassed legislative and executive branches of the Government, economy and all public services, including the judiciary. Nowadays Croatia exercises a division of power into the legislature, executive and judiciary, which are all mutually independent and have constitutionally and legally defined competencies and authorities. By passing a number of new laws, Croatia wanted to consistently regulate all legal, economic and social issues, in accordance with the Constitution and the Croatian legal tradition. We were also motivated by the desire to adopt the highest Europen legal standards and legal mechanisms, the Deputy Justice Minister said. Also representing Croatia at the forum is Ante Galic from the Ministry of Justice. Other than Croatia and conference organiser Hungary, also taking part are Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as a delegation of the Council of Europe. (Hina) mr /mb 212054 MET apr 98