The deputy speaker of Parliament and chairman of the Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and the Political System, Vladimir Seks, said on Monday evening that a discussion would be held in ten days or so on whether the Constitutional Court should be included in dealing with the issue of a referendum against government-sponsored amendments to labour legislation.
Speaking in an interview with Croatian television, Seks agreed with constitutional law professor Branko Smerdel that there was no point in or constitutional grounds for calling a referendum now that the government had withdrawn the amendments.
Seks said that the withdrawal of the amendments was a good decision and that it paved the way for dialogue with the social partners, who were opposed to the proposed amendments. He added that this had also made room for dialogue, both in Parliament and outside it, on collective agreements and their termination.
Seks supported the view of President Ivo Josipovic, who in turn supported Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and her Cabinet in their efforts to reach a consensual agreement that would be binding on all future governments on the basis of its moral authority.
When asked if insisting on the referendum on the Labour Act was in fact insisting on an early election, Seks said that there were such opinions and that those insisting on the referendum actually wanted to test the responsibility of Prime Minister Kosor and her Cabinet and the strength of the government and the ruling coalition.
Seks said it was unnecessary in the present time of crisis to waste money on a referendum, but that the trade unions and the government should resume social dialogue in order to settle their disputes.
