HDZ, OPPOSITION COMMENT ON CITY COUNCIL'S FAILURE TO APPROVE BUDGE

BUDGE $ T ZAGREB, Dec 23 (Hina) - Failure to include a discussion on the 1997 city budget on the agenda of the Zagreb city council session on Monday was in violation of the law, the president of the city committee of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, Zlatko Canjuga, said after the session. Council chairman Zdravko Tomac violated the council's regulations and the City of Zagreb Act because he did not consult other parties on not including the item on the agenda, although he was required to do so, Canjuga told a press conference. Canjuga stressed that the city government had sent the budget draft to the council in time. "If the so-called alliance wishes to behave in a legalistic manner, why does it put in jeopardy the functioning of public companies and other city institutions?" Canjuga asked. Speaking at a separate press conference by the opposition alliance, council chairman Zdravko Tomac of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that failure to approve the budget should not be blamed on the city council but on those who were preventing it from exercising its constitutional and legal rights. Tomac noted that the council would have violated its regulations if it had discussed "the draft budget proposed by the illegitimate (city) government." (hina) vm jn 231845 MET dec 96