Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor called on members of the Croatian Parliament on Wednesday to amend the Constitution as recommended by the parliamentary Committee on the Constitution, saying that after that the government would introduce into Parliament 17 amended bills most of which were directly associated with the completion of EU membership negotiations.
"It's a major job for which we in the government are prepared. We're at the end of a big, important and historic journey -- completion of the accession negotiations," Kosor said in her address to the MPs.
She said that Croatia was entering the final stage of negotiation, adding that the positive outcome of Sunday's referendum in Slovenia had cleared another hurdle in negotiations and that she expected Croatia would open the three remaining negotiation chapters in the coming days.
Kosor called on the MPs to make a maximum effort to ensure that Croatia signed the EU accession treaty early next year.
"The EU has earmarked 3.5 billion euros for the first two years of Croatia's membership, which will help to favourably resolve many issues, especially those relating to the economy and infrastructure," the PM said.
Kosor said that the proposed constitutional amendments were also geared towards speedy completion of accession negotiations, as some of them were set as benchmarks for closing particular negotiation chapters.
After the Constitution is amended, the government will introduce into Parliament amendments to 14 laws directly stemming from constitutional amendments and three bills that are indirectly connected with constitutional changes, she added.
Among the proposed provisions for inclusion in the preamble to the Constitution are the listing of all ethnic minorities in the country, redefining the role of the armed forces, introduction of the institution of an arrest warrant, and the provision saying that crimes of war profiteering and fraud committed during the privatisation period will not fall under a statute of limitations.
