Members of the European Parliament have submitted 93 amendments to a report by the Parliament's special rapporteur on Croatia, Hannes Swoboda, which congratulate Croatia on the courage to crack down on corruption in the political elite and call for investigating allegations by a former customs chief that some illegally gained funds were used for lobbying in Brussels.
The Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee will discuss Swoboda's report and the amendments in second reading on January 25, while the next day the Committee will vote on a draft resolution that will then be sent to a plenary parliamentary session due in February.
Three MEPs from the Socialist faction - Goran Farm of Sweden, Richard Howitt of Great Britain and Veronique De Keyser of Belgium - have submitted an amendment voicing serious concern over a deposition which Mladen Barisic, a former customs chief and treasurer of the ruling HDZ party, gave to the national anti-corruption agency USKOK, notably regarding the use of money gained illegally to pay lobbyists in Brussels.
The amendment also calls on the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to closely cooperate with the Croatian authorities so that the issue can be cleared up.
Those three MEPs congratulate Croatia on the courage demonstrated regarding accusations of corruption among its political elite, noting the request by the State Attorney's Office to strip former PM Ivo Sanader of immunity from prosecution and arrest him, and urging the Croatian and Austrian judicial systems to act in accordance with principles of judicial autonomy and EU extradition rules in the Sanader case.
The majority of the amendments refer to the fight against corruption. Swoboda has submitted an amendment in which he somewhat tones down his assessment about the scale of corruption in the country. Instead of a sentence saying that corruption remains widespread and covers nearly all segments of society, Swoboda suggests that the report should state that corruption appears to be widespread and that it appears to cover all segments of society.
Two MEPs of the European People's Party - Bernd Posselt of Germany and Cristian Dan Preda of Romania - have suggested striking the part of the report about widespread corruption and applauding the Croatian government's efforts in taking a firm position against all forms of corruption.
Several amendments refer to Croatia's cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, but all retain the part from Swoboda's original report which calls on the Council of the European Union to take into account a trial chamber decision stating that it cannot be established with certainty that the wartime documents sought by the Prosecutor's Office still exist.
Slovenian Socialist MEPs Tanja Fajon and Zoran Thaler have submitted an amendment saying that freedom of expression, including freedom and pluralism of the media, is generally respected, and calling on the Croatian authorities to step up investigations into threats against journalists who write about corruption, organised crime and other illegal activities.
They also applaud a prison sentence for the murder of journalist Ivo Pukanic, but stress that the national broadcaster HRT continues to have difficulties in electing a new director.
