RETURNEES' ASSOCIATION LEADER CALLS FOR CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

OSIJEK, Dec 7 (Hina) - Croatian Returnees Association (ZPH) leader Josip Kompanovic said in Osijek on Saturday he would propose that the ZPH Steering Committee, which will meet in Zagreb next Friday, call for civil disobedience, including the non-payment of electricity and other bills, and change its policy towards displaced people who have not returned to their homes yet. #L# Explaining his statement, Kompanovic said that by adopting changes to the law on income tax, under which the non-taxable part of returnees' salaries will no longer amount to 3,750 kuna, the parliament had annulled "the last right from the Law on Areas of Special State Concern". "All party benches, except for the Social Democrats, supported our request for an amendment which would prevent that change, and the SDP has once again punished returnees, Homeland War victims, invalids and their families from areas of special state concern," Kompanovic said. He believes that the SDP deputies have again demonstrated "lack of social sensitivity and utter arrogance". The ZPH leader believes that care for areas of special state concern has ceased to exist with yesterday's adoption of the said change, which is why in the future he will refer to those areas as "war- ravaged, occupied and plundered Croatian areas". Kompanovic said that yesterday's speech by Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac, who said that returnees should tend their land to improve their living standards and announced that the government would open "books of complaints" for dissatisfied returnees, was "scandalous". Due to the overall situation, it is useless "to call on displaced people to continue returning" and the ZPH will advise the displaced to decide for themselves if they should return. Kompanovic said he would propose that the ZPH Steering Committee call for civil disobedience, including the non-payment of utilities. (hina) rml