The Croatian parliament on Friday adopted a law exempting from the statute of limitations crimes of war profiteering and crimes committed in the process of ownership transformation and privatisation, thus amending the Penal Code.
It adopted amendments to the Law on Civil Procedure, which are expected to make civil procedures faster and more efficient.
MPs adopted the Law on the Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK) which envisages the supervision of dismissal of USKOK's charges pressed in cases of organised crime and corruption in cases where there are no injured parties.
Also amended were the laws on the Judicial Appointment Council and prosecutors' offices, which are among the benchmarks for the closing of the policy area No. 23, Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.
The parliament sent into second readings the Bill on Court Fees.
Also adopted was the Law on Social Welfare under which the base for entitlement to welfare benefits will no longer be fixed, but will be tied to the budgetary base.
A monthly disability allowance for children with arrested development will remain at HRK 1,250 kuna, and in families with two or more children with arrested development, both parents are given the possibility to gain care-giver status.
In the case of single parents with two or more children with arrested development or disabilities, apart from the parent, another member of the family will be able to obtain care-giver status.
The law defines more precisely the property census, which will be the deciding factor for entitlement to welfare benefits. Under the law, a person owning a three-room apartment in Zagreb would not be entitled to welfare benefits.
Persons or families whose total property does not exceed 100 times the budgetary base (to be calculated every year), will be entitled to welfare.
The new law includes stricter regulations on able-bodied beneficiaries of welfare allowance who turn down a job offer, and now they face the possibility of losing the right to welfare allowance if they turn down a job.
Beneficiaries of welfare allowance will also have to take part in humanitarian campaigns, or they will lose their benefits.
The parliament amended the law on nurses in line with EU directives, under which the minimum qualifications of a nurse include ten-year general education and three years of vocational training.
It ratified the Croatian Radio and Television Statute as the basic document regulating the structure and activities of the public broadcasting company and enabling the invitation of applications for new HRT executives.
The law on environmental protection was adjusted to the law on general administrative procedure, as was the law on areas of special state concern.
In line with a proposal from the Committee on the Constitution, the government-sponsored bill on referendum will not be discussed under fast-track procedure and it was sent into second reading.
The parliament added six more items to its agenda and wrapped up this week's sitting. It will reconvene next week to discuss amendments to the family law.
