Tonci Tadic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) figuratively expressed the Opposition's standpoint when he presented Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic with two kilograms of sugar, saying that this may be the last two packages of sugar from Croatian producers.
"This is a historic disaster of the Croatian economy and 'a historic success' of Cobankovic and this government," Tadic said on behalf of the HSP which, together with other Opposition benches, is convinced that the adoption of the protocol would destroy Croatian sugar producers.
Tadic and other opposition deputies stressed that the EU had not yet adopted a reform of the sugar market, adding that sugar quota should not be imposed on Croatia either.
The Opposition asked the government why it insisted on the protocol and amendments to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) which were against national interest. Opposition deputies particularly criticised Cobankovic's claims that Croatia had drawn out the maximum from the negotiations with the European Commission and that the quotas would not jeopardise the domestic sugar production.
Tadic said Croatia would export some 220,000 tonnes of sugar to the EU this year and that last year it exported 189,000 tonnes, adding that these figures were not a sufficient indicators of how damaging the decision on sugar quotas is.
I am confident that, should parliament ratify the protocol, at least one of Croatia's three sugar refineries would go out of business, Tadic said.
Bozidar Pankretic of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) wanted to know why Croatia accepted the restrictions of the export of sugar, which is Croatia's most important export product. He is also confident that new customs quotas would destroy sugar refineries and thousands of subcontracts.
He asked Cobankovic to tell deputies if somebody from the EU had blackmailed Croatia to agree to sugar quotas.
Neven Mimica of the Social Democrats (SDP) said the former government had achieved through negotiations a favourable SAA, adding that the agreement should not be changed, particularly not to the detriment of Croatia's national interests.
Nenad Stazic of the SDP told the minister that last year he promised he would resign should he agree to sugar quotas lower than 240,000 tonnes a year, and asked him if he would fulfil that promise.
The ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) supported the ratification of the protocol. stressing that Croatia was included in the reform of the EU sugar market.
A group of sugar refineries on Wedneday afternoon issued a statement calling to MPs to accept the amendments to the SAA, otherwise their normal export of sugar in 2007 would be impeded.
The sugar producers - Kandit Premijer, Sladorana and Viro - say that the problem does not lie with the introduction of quotas but they are struggling to achieve a low production price so as to be ready for the competition on the European market: