KRPINA: CURRENT EVENTS HAVE NOT DESTABILISED HDZ

( Editorial: --> 8957 ) ZAGREB, Oct 16 (Hina) - Croatian Democratic Union's (HDZ) spokesman Drago Krpina told reporters on Friday that the current events - primarily the resignations of several party officials - have not destablised the party. Public claims made by Hrvoje Sarinic and Franjo Greguric on the misuse of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) with the aim of political confrontation and their political discrediting, are unfounded, Krpina said. With their actions, Sarinic and Greguric have damaged HDZ's reputation and interests and violated the party Statute. Their actions were not described as a conspiracy but they did pose questions as to why these officials had not requested that the said questions be discussed at party meetings before they made claims, Krpina said commenting on the conclusions of a recent session of the HDZ National Council. A similar situation occured in 1994, when Stipe Mesic and Josip Manolic lef the party, explaining their move with the non- functioning of the rule of law and a lack of democracy within the party and - in that regard - its policy towards Bosnia-Herzegovina, he added. The similarity of these two situations can be seen in the fact that neither the 1994 nor the latest events have destabilised the party, although the opposition both in 1994 and now tried to benefit from the situation as much as possible, Krpina said. Asked whether the President of the Republic had violated the Constitution by discussing confidential information with party officials at the National Council session, Krpina said that that assessment was too general. The National Council was not submitted any confidential documents, and especially not, documents marked as state or military secrets. The session was to prepare a report on the political dimensions of Sarinic's and Greguric's actions. It was also attended by the head of the National Security Office (UNS), Ivan Jarnjak, and the vice president of the HDZ Main Committee and head of the Croatian Information Service (HIS), Miroslav Separovic, who is also a member of the Main Committee. In the course of the session, Separovic presented conclusions he had arrived at while investigating the case, the HDZ spokesman said. Asked why the party had formed two investigating commissions, Krpina said that an expert commission was to give its opinion about Sarinic's and Greguric's actions as regards the party statute. The SIS operates as part of the Defence Ministry and that is why Defence Minister Andrija Hebrang was also asked to give his assessment. The intention was not to check how Hebrang was performing his duties as Defence Minister as had been suggested by some media, Krpina noted. Commenting on media claims saying President Franjo Tudjman accused the former Defence Minister Hebrang of being an American secret agent, Krpina said that those claims were a sheer fabrication. Hebrang is one of the most prominent party officials and the reasons of his resignation are of different nature and should not be related to Sarinic's and Greguric's resignations, Krpina protested. Speaking about the appointment of Ivica Kostovic as the new President's Chief-Of-Staff and Pavao Miljavac as the new Defence Minister, Krpina strongly condemned "the condescending and insulting" estimations that the newly-appointed officials were unoriginal, obedient individuals lacking personality, who, as such, were suitable for the posts they have been appointed to. Commenting on the results of the recent local election for the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Krpina said that the party was not satisfied with the results, since it now had less councillors, but was satisfied with the fact that it remained the stongest party in the county assembly. The poorer election results are the consequence of turmoils within the party, which led to the dissolution of the county assembly, as well as of the events around the Dubrovacka Banka. The HDZ considers that the biggest loser of the election are the Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS). The Social-Democratic Party (SDP) has grown stronger while other parties have only confirmed how little important they are, the HDZ spokesman said. With regard to the opposition's demand for early parliamentary elections, the HDZ believes there is no reason why these should be held earlier, since the HDZ has the majority of seats in both houses of the National Sabor (Parliament). (hina) rml /sp 161657 MET oct 98