The Croatian parliament on Tuesday discussed a bill on environment protection, with the debate being marked with Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentarian Mirela Holy's opposition to the proposed bill, although the club of deputies of the ruling SDP voiced its support to the proposed legislation.
Holy, who was environment minister for a few months in the cabinet of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, the SDP leader, today said that she would not vote for the environment protection bill as she found it in contravention with the Agenda 21 and its section on nature protection.
Agenda 21 is the platform which the SDP-led four-party coalition promoted before the elections which it won.
"Agenda 21 is a pact which the government reached with citizens who placed trust in this cabinet and the government must abide by it," Holy said during the parliamentary debate.
Under the proposed legislation, there will be next to nothing of the reform in the environment protection policy, while, on the other hand, 400 million kuna will be spent annually on various projects of political elites, she said,
Environment Protection Minister Mihael Zmajlovic of the SDP said that the proposed legislation was aimed at creating a legislative framework to improve Croatia's investment climate.
"The bill puts an emphasis on improvement in management of protected areas, paving the way to establish a single management body to run all protected areas," the minister said.
Branko Bacic of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) said that it was not necessary now to pass this legislation, given that upon its entry into the European Union, set for 1 July, Croatia would again have to amend its pertinent legislation to adjust it to the Natura 2000.
