PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES HOLD INFORMAL CONSUTALTIONS ON MEDIA BILL

ZAGREB, Oct 1 (Hina) - The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and parliamentary opposition parties held brief informal consultations on Tuesday ahead of a repeated vote on the Mass Media Bill scheduled for Wednesday. HDZ deputy Vladimir Seks told reporters that his party showed a willingness not to insist on articles 19 and 47 of the bill which require publishers to provide insurance for possible damage to third parties. After a lengthy and heated debate last week, the bill failed to win a majority of votes of all 127 deputies, which was necessary for passage of this law. It was agreed then that the disputed provisions would be reconsidered before repeating the vote. Opposition deputies demanded that the provisions be left out of the text of the bill, arguing that the government might use high insurance prices to supress some newspapers. They cited the Insurance Law which explicitly banned the compulsory insurance of publishers. During a recent visit, a Council of Europe delegation has also voiced its opposition to compulsory insurance because it would affect freedom of the press. However, HDZ deputies were of the opinion that the disputable provisions should be retained and that the bill should be passed urgently because it was a condition for Croatia's admission to the Council of Europe. Seks reiterated that HDZ stuck to its view that the provisions were in the interest of protection of both publishers and journalists. But he added that HDZ was ready to erase the provisions since the Croatian Journalists' Association and the opposition parties believed that they were not in the interest of newspapers. (hina) vm jn 011719 MET oct 96