$ ZAGREB, 16 Jan (Hina) - Representatives of the Croatian Parliament Lower House benches on Thursday supported the final bill on counties, towns and municipalities in the Republic of Croatia, but also criticized the bill and presented
their proposals concerning territorial demarcation between some counties and the organization of new towns and municipalities.
ORGANISATION
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ZAGREB, 16 Jan (Hina) - Representatives of the Croatian
Parliament Lower House benches on Thursday supported the final
bill on counties, towns and municipalities in the Republic of
Croatia, but also criticized the bill and presented their
proposals concerning territorial demarcation between some
counties and the organization of new towns and municipalities.
#L#
Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Alliance (IDS)
insisted that will and interests of residents of an area be
respected. Some solutions for some parts of Istria and Rijeka
County do not respect the will and interests of the local
population, Kajin said.
The bill does not include a constitutional obligation,
which says that the names of villages and towns should be
bilingual, when it is regulated by statutes.
Anto Djapic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) said
that some regions are divided into too many counties, and
proposed that they be joined.
Luka Trconic of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) and
Jozo Rados of the Croatian Social-Liberal Party (HSLS)
criticized a lack of criteria for the allocation of the status
of municipality or town.
When it comes to internal and administrative
organization, the HDZ has been from the beginning and it still
is against the regional approach, said Drago Krpina of the
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).
The creation of Croatian regions throughout history was
not spontaneous but caused by the foreign rule. The HDZ held
that the number of municipalities should not be limited,
Krpina said.
Speaking about the organization of municipalities in the
liberated areas, Krpina said that the bill did not include the
organization of two districts. The organization of the two
districts had been envisaged by a constitutional law on the
protection of ethnic communities and national minorities, but
the part of the act concerning the organization of the two
districts was not being implemented at the moment.
To consider requests by the local Serbs to form a special
county in the Croatian Danubian area was completely out of the
question, Krpina said, adding that the bill fully disregarded
that fact.
Several representatives of party benches supported the
initiative aimed at regulating the status of big cities by a
special law.
The Legislature Committee proposed that the city of
Zagreb be treated as a special and unique territorial and
administrative unit.
(hina) rm jn
161443 MET jan 97