Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told a press conference on Friday that his government intended to ensure greater legal security for same-sex couples, recalling that registration of same-sex partnerships was provided for in the ruling coalition's election platform.
Reporters asked him to elaborate on his statement to Jutarnji List daily that the government was launching an initiative to prepare a new legislative framework on same-sex partnerships and that he expected dialogue with the LGTB community as well as with experts and the public in general. Jutarnji List took it to mean that the government planned to allow homosexual couples to register their partnerships.
"We aim to raise it to a higher level in civil law terms. That was part of our platform. I hope it's all right with people in Croatia. It's simply a form of social empathy and civility," the prime minister said. "The same goes for the Artificial Insemination Bill, it simply expands the area of freedom. We think it's more humane, more just, and better," he added.
The parliamentary opposition parties, except the Labour Party, said they were against such plans. The head of the strongest opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Jadranka Kosor, said that her party's position on this issue was clear -- the Family Act must be observed and it says that marriage is a union of a man and a woman.
