AGREEMENT ON VUKOVAR CITY COUNCIL CO-PRESIDENTS NOT REACHED

VUKOVAR, June 24 (Hina) - The second session of the Vukovar City Council at which deputy mayors, co-presidents and commissions of City Council were to be elected, did not take place on Tuesday as planned. Mayor of Vukovar Vladimir Stengl of the Croatian Democratic Union Party (HDZ) told reporters that an agreement on City Council co- presidents and the make-up of the Statute and Rule Book Commission and the Election and Appointment Commission failed to be reached. After three-and-a-half-hour-long negotiations, Croatian councillors left the building where the session was to start at 11.00 hours. According to councillors of the HDZ and the Serb Democratic Independent Party (SDSS), the dispute would be solved "on a higher level." Assessing the situation, the president of Vukovar's HDZ, Petar Mlinaric, said that "people from the SDSS are very tough" and that they "only want us to send them money, while they run the city." The HDZ and the SDSS have 12 councillors each in the City Council, while Tomislav Mercep's Independent List has two councillors. Vladimir Stengl was elected Vukovar's mayor at the City Council's founding session of 28 May, while Marko Ceprnja of the SDSS was elected the City Council's president. (hina) ha jn 242229 MET jun 97