The trade union federation MHS and the Croatian Trade Union Association (HUS) will be collecting signatures between January 22 and February 5 for calling a referendum on relaxing conditions for future referenda, union leaders told a news conference on Tuesday.
On January 22, when Croatia will hold a referendum on its EU membership, the two union federations will start collecting signatures for an initiative which would make it possible to call referenda in the future if so requested by 200,000 citizens, who would have to sign a petition to that effect within a period of one month. At the moment, a total of 450,000 signatures must be collected in 15 days to call a referendum.
MHS president Vilim Ribic and HUS president Ozren Matijasevic criticised the two biggest Croatian parties - the ruling Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) -- for forming an "unprincipled coalition aimed at preventing Croatian citizens from deciding on their own future," because they do not want to make conditions for launching referendums less strict.
Other union federations did not join this initiative.
