Croatia will be able to measure the success of its European Union membership in 2014 by whether and how much more it gets from the European budget than paying into it, which is no easy task given that only a small part of available European funds is guaranteed and the bulk can be drawn only…
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Parliament has completely fulfilled its constitutional task this year
This year Croatian legislators have spent a total of 160 days at work in Parliament — 110 working days at plenary sessions and 50 at meetings of parliamentary committees and political groups, Parliament Speaker Josip Leko said at a press conference on Thursday in summing up Parliament’s work in 2013. MPs discussed 482 items on…
Parliament formulates final draft of constitutional amendments
Parliament on Friday formulated by majority vote a draft of proposed amendments to the Croatian Constitution. The draft envisages lifting the statute of limitations on first degree murder, reducing the number of signatures required to call a referendum requested by citizens and stipulating the requirements for a referendum to be considered valid. Under the draft,…
Multilingualism as wealth – Cyrillic script does not spell out war
„Intolerance towards a minority and the symbols of its cultural identity limits the freedoms, rights and safety of Croatian citizens, including the members of the majority group, by persuading them that these ‘Others’ pose a constant and nefarious threat.“ This warning was issued yet again on the Human Rights Day, December 10, during a round…
Europe and Croatia are living and protecting multilingualism
On December 10, 2013 – the international Human Rights Day – a round table entitled „European Wealth of Multilingualism: Quo vadis, Croatia?“ was held in the Croatian Parliament. The round table sent out a clear message from parliamentary representatives, civil society activists and Ambassadors of seven European countries that multilingualism is a treasure that Europe…
A referendum cannot be called on reducing human rights no more
The Committee on the Constitution, Standing Orders and Political System on Monday took into account some of the objections stated during a public debate on a bill of amendments to the Constitution and unanimously proposed to parliament to discuss a partially amended draft Constitution, with novelties referring mostly to the referendum issue. The Committee was…