ZAGREB, March 27 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of Counties (upper house) has included in its current session's agenda a debate on constitutional changes, despite its refusal to do so ten days ago. Constitutional changes,
which envisage the dissolution of the upper house, should be adopted by the House of Representatives tomorrow. The upper house, it was decided, will debate constitutional changes only after it receives the Constitutional Court's ruling on the dispute of whether the House of Representatives has respected parliamentary procedure when it initiated constitutional changes without the House of Counties giving its opinion on the issue first. A week ago, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench at the House of Counties requested that the constitutionality of constitutional changes be assessed, saying parliamentary procedure had been disregarded and that the lower house could not adopt constitutional
ZAGREB, March 27 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament's House of
Counties (upper house) has included in its current session's agenda
a debate on constitutional changes, despite its refusal to do so ten
days ago. Constitutional changes, which envisage the dissolution
of the upper house, should be adopted by the House of
Representatives tomorrow.
The upper house, it was decided, will debate constitutional changes
only after it receives the Constitutional Court's ruling on the
dispute of whether the House of Representatives has respected
parliamentary procedure when it initiated constitutional changes
without the House of Counties giving its opinion on the issue
first.
A week ago, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) bench at the House
of Counties requested that the constitutionality of constitutional
changes be assessed, saying parliamentary procedure had been
disregarded and that the lower house could not adopt constitutional
changes without the upper house giving its opinion first.
Deputies at the lower house replied that procedure had not been
disregarded and that the failure of the upper house to voice its
opinion on initiating changes to the Constitution actually meant
its negative opinion.
According to existing regulations, the House of Representatives
can pass a law despite the upper house's negative opinion of that
law, after the upper house returns the law to the lower house for
reconsideration and after a certain period of time has passed.
(hina) sb rml