Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said in Zagreb on Thursday she did not think the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) should be banned by the Constitution, expressing hope that the opposition parties which had boycotted today's meeting on the completion of EU entry negotiations would accept her renewed invitation for talks.
Kosor said at a press conference that as the Prime Minister she did not have "a privilege, option or right to be angry at anyone" when Croatian national interests were at issue. "Of course, I will try again (to arrange a meeting) with leaders of the SDP, HNS and IDS, and I think that meeting will be held one day."
SDP president Zoran Milanovic and other opposition leaders refused to attend today's meeting with the Prime Minister, with the SDP saying that the meeting was motivated by PR rather than state interests.
Kosor said that the government today introduced into Parliament amendments to the Declaration on Accession to the European Union, under which a referendum on EU entry would be held after the signing of the EU Accession Treaty, preferably within 30 days of the signing.
"We think it's a good approach for the government to come out before the people after completing its work and say, 'We have done our job, you have the last say,'" the PM said.
According to Kosor's plan, which is backed by the multiparty National Committee for the Supervision of EU Accession Negotiations, negotiations should be completed, the accession treaty signed and the referendum held before next summer, while regular parliamentary elections would be held by the end of 2011, along with elections for Croatian deputies of the European Parliament.
The only opposition MPs who attended today's meeting were Vladimir Sisljagic of the regional HDSSB party and Ivica Pancic of the Croatian Social Democrats.
Pancic said he had attended the meeting in order to appease his own conscience and to see for himself whether the praises Kosor was receiving for the government's fight against corruption were true.
"However, my question as to whether the government was ready to deal with corruption regardless of who was involved, met with total silence," Pancic said, concluding that it was all "a farce in which some people from the Union are also involved."
Sisljagic said he was disappointed with the meeting, expressing hope that the government would accept his proposal and inform Croatian citizens about what was negotiated with the EU and what people could expect in the Union in terms of jobs and living standards.
Also present at the meeting was Vesna Pusic of the opposition Croatian People's Party (HNS), who explained that she had attended in her capacity as the chair of the National Committee for the Supervision of EU Accession Negotiations.
