ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday evening ended a discussion on amendments to a law on the privatisation of Croatian Telekom (HT) and a law on telecommunications. The voting will take place on Thursday. The
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) harshly opposed the amendments, expressing belief that the sale of 16 percent of the HT share was very unfavourable. They believe the law aims at covering up an unfavourable arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic harshly reacted to the HDZ claims, wondering how could HDZ representatives lecture others on transparency, when the party, while in power, enabled HT to pay five instead of 50 million kuna for concession. The government cannot change some unfavourable elements from the agreement the previous government had signed with Deutsche Telekom during the sale of the first package of the HT stocks, Fizulic stress
ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament on Wednesday
evening ended a discussion on amendments to a law on the
privatisation of Croatian Telekom (HT) and a law on
telecommunications.
The voting will take place on Thursday.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) harshly opposed the
amendments, expressing belief that the sale of 16 percent of the HT
share was very unfavourable. They believe the law aims at covering
up an unfavourable arrangement with the International Monetary
Fund.
Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic harshly reacted to the HDZ claims,
wondering how could HDZ representatives lecture others on
transparency, when the party, while in power, enabled HT to pay five
instead of 50 million kuna for concession.
The government cannot change some unfavourable elements from the
agreement the previous government had signed with Deutsche Telekom
during the sale of the first package of the HT stocks, Fizulic
stressed.
The Croatian Party of Rights/the Croatian Christian Democratic
Union (HSP/HKDU) parliamentary bench and the Democratic Centre
(DC) said they would not support the amendments.
Mate Granic of the DC said Croatian Homeland War soldiers were
deprived of the right to manage state property, and that HT
employees have less possibilities to gain stocks. Therefore, the DC
will vote against the amendments, Granic said.
Several representatives of the ruling coalition denied that
Homeland War soldiers and HT employees would be deprived of their
rights because nothing was changed in the regulations.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentary bench supported
the amendments, assessing that the existing law gave the foundation
for the liberalisation of the telecommunication market.
The Istrian Democratic Assembly parliamentary bench assessed the
decision under which the parliament would no longer be competent to
pass decisions on the privatisation of HT as unacceptable. In line
with the amendments the decisions on the HT privatisation would
exclusively be passed by the government.
(hina) it sb