PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILL ON COOPERATION WITH HAGUE TRIBUNAL IN FIR

FIR $ ST READING ZAGREB, March 15 (Hina) - The House of Representatives today supported a Constitutional Bill on Cooperation with the International Criminal Court in the first reading. For a Constitutional Bill to be enacted (in the third reading) a two-- thirds majority is needed. The House also passed a law on maternity leave which gives self-employed and unemployed mothers equal rights to maternity leave as employed mothers. Development Minister Jure Radic announced that the Government would elaborate a package of measures and incentives for increasing the birth rate. The House unanimously adopted the Reconstruction Act, which provides for the reconstruction of war-damaged areas, the return of refugees and stimulate economic and social life in these areas. Under the new Act, reconstruction will be mainly financed from the national budget. Instead of credits, returnees will be granted appropriate sums which will allow them to rebuild their homes and do some minimal interior refurbishing. The House unanimously approved the Government's proposal that a package of penal laws be tabled for the third reading. According to Justice Minister Miroslav Separovic, the package (which includes the Basic Penal Code, the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Act) needed in-depth revision in order to clarify certain doubts. (hina) mm as 151933 MET mar 96