Justice Minister Ana Lovrin dismissed media headlines and allegations by Nenad Stazic of the Social Democrats (SDP) that the European Commission decided to postpone the screening of the judiciary and human rights chapter because of a poor situation in the Croatian judiciary.
The screening of the chapter on justice and human rights has been moved to September on the recommendation of the European Commission so that Croatia can improve the situation in this area and receive a more favourable report from the Commission, it was announced on Tuesday.
The minister told MPs that Croatia and the EU had both assessed that Croatia's judiciary would be even better by September, primarily because of the continuation of the reform process.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic said during Question Time that the story about mad cow disease caused indirect damage but that the damage was not of disastrous proportions. Cobankovic said his ministry did the right thing by informing the public about the possible appearance of mad cow disease.
Deputies were also addressed by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, who said the government could not accept the Italian parliament's decision to expand the right to Italian citizenship to include Croatian citizens, particularly because it was being "alluded" to areas formerly occupied by Italy.
Sanader told Furio Radin, a national minority deputy, that the Italian parliament had gone too far because the decision did not refer only to members of the Italian minority in Croatia but also to Croats almost exclusively in areas that were under Italy's occupation until the end of WWII.
"We cannot accept that," the PM said, adding that the decision of the Italian parliament was part of the election campaign.
People with dual citizenship can be a bridge and not a problem of cooperation, but it has gone too far, Sanader said, adding that his cabinet would respond appropriately after it examined the decision from the international and legal aspects.
Dissatisfied with Sanader's answer, deputy Radin said he would propose to the Italian parliament to expand the right to citizenship and include other areas in Croatia, and not only those that were under Italy's occupation during WWII.
PM Sanader also said that agreements on dual citizenship and property and rights relations between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina should be signed during his coming visit to Sarajevo.