ZAGREB, Jan 19 (Hina) - The leader of the Party of Democratic Action of Croatia (SDA) and parliamentary representative of the Bosniak minority, Semso Tankovic, confirmed on Monday that his party had given up talks on forming a joint
club of deputies with the Liberal Party (LS) of Ivo Banac, but dismissed Banac's claim that he had done so because of pressure from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
ZAGREB, Jan 19 (Hina) - The leader of the Party of Democratic Action of
Croatia (SDA) and parliamentary representative of the Bosniak
minority, Semso Tankovic, confirmed on Monday that his party had given
up talks on forming a joint club of deputies with the Liberal Party
(LS) of Ivo Banac, but dismissed Banac's claim that he had done so
because of pressure from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).#L#
Tankovic told Hina that he had negotiated with the LS in his capacity
as the SDA leader, of which he had informed the HDZ in line with an
agreement between the SDA and the HDZ.
"We thought that after 13 years of out-of-parliament work it would be
good to articulate our interests in that way, but the president of the
parliament, Vladimir Seks, warned us that this could hamper the SDA's
political engagement since we have bound ourselves with the agreement
to support Sanader's government," Tankovic said.
He dismissed Banac's claims that Seks or any other HDZ official had
used pressure to make the SDA give up the idea of forming a joint club
of deputies with the LS.
"We have held internal discussions about the whole case and decided it
would be best if we
stuck to the HDZ, which will respect its obligations towards the SDA
and the Bosniak minority," Tankovic said.
Tankovic apologised to Banac, saying that "if there was a mistake, it
was entirely mine" and "the HDZ was the least to blame in the whole
situation".
(Hina) rml sb