MOST OPPOSITION REPS LEAVE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION ( Editorial: --> 9041 )

( Editorial: --> 9041 ) ZAGREB, Nov 7 (Hina) - Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic on Friday acquainted the parliament Foreign Affairs Committee with a draft agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation. Representatives of five opposition parties left the closed session shortly after it began, demanding that the draft agreement be discussed at the Lower House. According to parliament speaker Vlatko Pavletic, who suggested that the discussion take place in the Foreign Affairs Committee and not the Lower House, "not every government initiative, even one which could result in an agreement, can come before the parliament." "That is why I proposed that Minister Granic answer before the Committee what at this moment was the reason to come out with such a draft, what reactions were expected and what were the answers of the Croatian diplomacy to those challenges", said Pavletic. Parliament deputy speaker Stjepan Radic said he was authorized to give a statement on behalf of the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), the Croatian People's Party, the Istrian Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), explaining why the five opposition representatives left the session. "The leaders of these parties believe it is insufficient for the discussion to take place at the Foreign Affairs Committee", Radic said, "because of the particular importance of the document we have been presented with, had to discuss and possibly reach some decisions on, so we demanded that the discussion take place at the Lower House." Radic said the five representatives were not promised the draft agreement would be on the parliament's agenda, but that it would be discussed sometime in the future, once it became a finished document which cannot be altered, but either adopted or rejected. Drazen Budisa of the HSLS stayed at the session, Radic said, but only in the function of parliament deputy speaker. According to SDP president Zdravko Tomac, the opposition should have been acquainted with the draft agreement on special relations between Croatia and the Bosnian Federation before, not after it was published in newspapers. "The leaders of parliamentary parties, the Foreign Affairs Committee and presidents of parliamentary benches should have been assembled earlier and told what should not be said in public", said Tomac. "We could have stated our reserves and comments, possibly have drawn up a better agreement, or at least, have had enough arguments to back it, and not learn about it when everything was done", Tomac added. "By (leaving the session) we are showing that the opposition doesn't want to be an ornament to the policy of the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union Party - leading party in Croatia), and that we do not agree to manipulation", the president of the SDP said. Ivic Pasalic of the HDZ regretted the decision of the five opposition parties. "We can see in (that stance) something we could call paranoia", he said. "This was arranged and imagined as a working meeting, at which we would have conducted a serious discussion on the draft (agreement) which is strategically important for Croatia and whole Croatian national corps", Pasalic said. "It is a pity that a climate of understanding and tolerance is not being established among Croatian political parties", he said, adding that some opposition leaders did attend the session. Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights, Milan Djukic of the Serb People's Party and Milorad Pupovac of the Croatian Social- Democrats Action Party participated in the work of the closed session. According to Zarko Domljan, chairman of the Committee for Foreign Policy, the Croatian Constitution stipulates that international agreements be signed by the government and then be presented before the parliament which can either adopt or reject, but not alter them. "This is why we organized this preliminary discussion, so that the agreement would not have to be discussed only after being completed", he concluded. (hina) ha jn 071710 MET nov 97