HOUSE OF COUNTIES ENDS DISCUSSION ON LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - Following a four-hour-long discussion on problems of local self-government, the Croatian Parliament House of Counties refused a proposal by Stjepan Rodes of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), that the House of Representatives should instruct the Government to take a stand on the current law on the local self-government and to take measures for the protection of the constitutional and legal order. Twenty nine deputies voted against and 21 deputies voted in favour of Rodes's proposal. Commenting on the situation in the Counties of Zagreb and Rijeka as well as in the city of Zagreb, Rodes said discussions not only on laws but also on their implementation were within the competence of the House of Counties. During the heated debate upper house deputies expressed very divergent opinions on the issue. Opposition parliamentarians reminded that one year had passed since the elections of the Zagreb city and county assemblies. They said those assemblies were unable to appoint executive authorities, and, in this way, to implement the election results. Deputies of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) opposed such interpretation of the government crisis in Zagreb. They claimed that a relative majority was acknowledged as a true majority in European democracies, and said that the HDZ party had a relative majority in the Zagreb city and county assemblies. They complained that today's debate was hardly about local self- government and that the opposition deputies had wanted to conduct a broad political discussion. (hina) jn mš 272144 MET nov 96