LOWER HOUSE ADOPTS TWO RETURN PROGRAMMES

( Editorial: --> 4005 ) ZAGREB, June 26 (Hina) - The Croatian National Parliament's House of Representatives on Friday adopted with a majority vote the Government's Programme for the Return, which was agreed on with the international community and regulates in principle the return procedure. The Lower House also adopted the Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons, an extensive document with a detailed analysis of and forecast on the number of returnees in the next few years. The Programme for the Return, a six-page document which the international community has agreed to, was in the initial proposal a constituent, fourth section of a single Draft Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons. In his introductory speech before the House of Representatives, Reconstruction and Development Minister Jure Radic proposed that the Programme for the Return be taken out and adopted separately from the rest of the Programme. He explained this by saying that the Programme for the Return, which has been agreed on with the international community, was Section IV of the Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons. The remainder of the document is an analysis of the overall displaced-refugee crisis, Radic added. The Programme for the Return was supported by 75 MPs, while four voted against and three abstained. The Programme for the Return and Accommodation of Displaced Persons, Refugees and Exiled Persons was adopted with 71 votes for, four against and seven abstentions. The Lower House continued the session with a vote on the budget revision to which 162 amendments have been presented. (hina) jn rml/bag 261901 MET jun 98