Groups of parliamentary parties were poles apart in their views on a bill on the national broadcaster HRT, with the Opposition claiming during a parliamentary debate on Monday that the new legislation would transform the HRT into a state-controlled broadcaster and the ruling coalition's MPs responding that the new bill was a response to the bad existing law and aimed at rendering the HRT a independent and stable public broadcaster.
Several Opposition MPs criticised the announced reduction of the monthly subscription fee as an attempt to bring the HRT under the control of the ruling majority.
Frano Matusic of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) responded that the HRT "is the only institution in Croatia to receive HRK 2 billion of public revenues without any supervision over its financial operations."
A part of Opposition lawmakers said that the proposed legislation was in favour of the interest of commercial televisions.
