Representatives of the opposition SDP and HNS parties said on Wednesday the ruling HDZ had no will to reach a compromise about the completion of this parliament's work and that they would no longer talk about it, MP Milorad Pupovac of the SDSS confirmed there was no compromise, while MP Andrija Hebrang said the most important thing for the HDZ was that parliament was resuming its session.
After a meeting of a task force set up yesterday to agree on the resumption of parliament's session, which four opposition parties are boycotting since last week, Milanka Opacic of the SDP told the press the negotiations had produced no results.
She recalled that at yesterday's parliamentary presidency meeting, the opposition suggested a compromise, that parliament discuss and vote on eight items - five European bills, a European declaration, and decisions on interim financing and the dissolution of the incumbent parliament - but said the HDZ stuck by its position.
Opacic said the opposition would not take part in discussions and voting in the next six days. Asked if the task force would hold more talks, she answered in the negative.
Vesna Pusic of the opposition's HNS/HSU group said the purpose of the task force meeting was not to expand the agenda of the current session but to agree to bring parliament's work to an end "in a decent manner".
She said the only possible solution was to group the items on which the opposition was willing to vote and to vote on them at the end of the session, alongside the decision to dissolve parliament.
Asked if Hebrang indicated that the HDZ might be in favour of the item grouping, Pusic said the HDZ must decide that on its own. She added that the ruling party had not explained to the opposition why it insisted that all items on the agenda be discussed and voted on.
Asked to comment on Prime Minister and HDZ president Jadranka Kosor's statement this morning that the ruling coalition's quorum in parliament was not in question, Opacic said the quorum and the adoption of decisions were the responsibility of those holding the majority, "and they will show on October 28 if they have it."
Pupovac, whose Serb SDSS party is a junior partner in the ruling coalition, said the positions of the opposition and the HDZ had not changed since yesterday and that everything depended on an agreement within the ruling coalition and whether this agreement was acceptable to the opposition.
Asked if he still believed a compromise was possible, he said there would be a problem if it was not reached.
Asked if he preferred the opposition's proposal or the HDZ's demand that all items on the agenda be discussed, Pupovac said parliament could not and need not discuss all the items, but added that parliament could include on the agenda the European laws the government forwarded last week as well as a bill on Croats outside of Croatia.
Asked if the SDSS was willing to return to parliament if the national minorities' voting issue was put on the agenda, Pupovac said this problem too could be solved if agreement was reached on what the present parliament should do before its dissolution.
He said the voting issue was very important and that this parliament should not complete its term without looking into the Constitutional Court decision "which derogated the Constitutional Law on national minorities' rights and the Constitutional Law on the enforcement of the constitution."
Asked to comment on Kosor's statement that parliament would certainly vote on a bill invalidating Serbian war crimes indictments against Croatian citizens, Pupovac said the SDSS would certainly not vote for it or help in any way in its passage.
Hebrang told the press parliament would sit until being dissolved and that it would complete its constitutional commitments.
Asked when parliament would be dissolved and if the opposition would return to parliament, Hebrang said he could say nothing about it at the moment, adding that the most important thing was that parliament was resuming its session.
