Most of the participants in a round table discussion which the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) organised on the government-proposed bill on strategic investments in Zagreb on Monday, branded the bill as harmful and vague and could lead to corruption and the sale of national resources.
Speaking on behalf of the Iustitia et Pax commission of the Croatian Bishops' Conference, Gordan Crpic said that the bill encroached on the rights of local authorities and discriminated against entrepreneurs preferring those with higher revenues.
The law also "bypasses the procedure and enables only a few to be in position to make decisions on important property," Crpic said, adding that the government should first address the problem of huge and inefficient local government.
Ljubo Jurcic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics, said that "in Croatia there are no strategic investments. If this bill is adopted it will be detrimental".
The economic expert said that the structure rather than the amount of funds was important when it came to investments. "If you have no vision of what to do with your space, you cannot adopt such a law," he said.
Unionist Kresimir Sever said that the proposed bill was in contravention of the Constitution as "the parliament has no right to adopt a law depriving itself and the people of the right to manage national resources".
The HDZ's economic strategist Djuro Njavro said that the proposed bill was harmful.
If we had had such a law a year ago, a third of the Ombla (hydropower power plant) project would have been completed by now, which means that dozens of endemic species would have become extinct, and now we see that the plan for Ombla will be scrapped, with the explanation that it is not lucrative, Njavro said.
Economist Mladen Vedris said the HDZ should not only comment on government-proposed legislation but should propose bills itself.
The address by HDZ leader Tomislav Karamarko was marked by an incident when a few activists, carrying the banners "HDZ has plundered Croatia", broke into the conference room.
"You are plunderers and you should get out of political life in Croatia," they shouted while entering the room. They were removed by HDZ youth organisation members, with Karamarko commenting that this raid was "a matter of democracy".
"I am the last person in front of whom you should wave such banners," Karamarko said recalling that in his previous capacity as interior minister he had launched a campaign against corruption and that the HDZ had renounced its members who were put on trial for graft.
