LAW ON CONSTITUTIONAL COURT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED - SEKS

( Editorial: --> 5881 ) ZAGREB, May 22 (Hina) - Vice-President of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Vladimir Seks, said on Friday that it was necessary to change the Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court. The competence of the Constitutional Court and its relations with other Croatian state institutions need to be precisely defined, Seks said at a press conference, rejecting the accusations that a "coup" against this court was in progress. The Constitutional Court decisions must be obeyed, but the question was to which lengths the Court was supposed to go to defend constitutionality, Seks said. The Constitutional Court ruled certain provisions of the Law on Indexing Pensions unconstitutional, obliging the government to pay back a huge debt to the pensioners. The Constitutional Court should not make decisions based on general constituional principles, such as the social state principle, since they are "abstract legal standards". The judiciary in general believes that the Constitutional Court has overstepped its competence, Seks said. In fact, unofficial talks with the Constitutional Court representatives regarding changes in its jurisdiction have been going on for a year now, Seks specified. Seks also believes that the president of the Constitutional Court, Jadranko Crnic, cannot be the president of the Croatian Red Cross as well. HDZ spokesman Drago Krpina denied that the ruling party was negotiating the establishment of a coalition government, as was recently published in some newspapers. He explained that the HDZ did not see any need to take such a step. Given the stability of the political situation, there are no political reasons to justify early elections, Krpina said. He invited opposition parties of similar views to cooperate with the HDZ, and the others to engage in "a calmer and more constructive dialogue" for the benefit of the "Croatian people and the Croatian state". Croatia has its share of economic and social problems resulting from the five-year Serb aggression, and one third of this year's state budget will be used to solve some of them, Krpina said. Asked about the fifth convention of the Bosnia-Herzegovina HDZ, the HDZ Secretary-General Ivan Valent informed reporters that it was democratic and open. He announced that internal party elections would be held after the new leadership had been chosen. This would be followed by a restructuring of the party hierarchy after the model of the Croatian HDZ. The results of the convention would not disturb the existing political relations between Croatia and the B-H Federation, Valent emphasised. As for the proposal on a de-cantonisation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, contained in a declaration adopted at the same convention, both Valent and Krpina said that the HDZ supported the proposal, and that it was not contrary to the Dayton agreement. (hina) jn/jfk/as 221757 MET may 98