The proposal, also supported by deputies of the Slovene minority, was presented by the leaders of parliamentary clubs of the centre-right opposition and the main supporter of the proposal was a representative of the Forza Italia party, Isidoro Gottardo.
Gottardo sees Croatia's EU membership talks as a possibility for resolving open issues between the two countries.
The EU foreign ministers decided on 16 March to postpone Croatia's negotiations due to Croatia's insufficient cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The EU leaders decided in Brussels this weeks to set up a task force in charge of establishing Croatia's degree of cooperation with the Hague tribunal. It will be composed of representatives of the European Commission, the Council of Ministers, the present and the future EU president -- Luxembourg and Great Britain -- and Austria which will become the EU President in the first half of 2006.