The Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP) warned today that the proposed law on tourist land is unconstitutional, economically questionable, and inconsistent with EU legal acquis, and suggested that it be sent for a third reading in the Parliament.
HUP proposes a third reading in which a broader discussion with experts would be opened to assist in drafting a higher quality and sustainable legislative proposal, as stated in the press release from HUP’s Tourism and Hospitality Association. The government submitted the proposal for the law on tourist and other construction land not appraised in the process of transformation and privatization to the second reading in Parliament from the session held on January 7. It is unacceptable for such an important law to produce poor solutions and economically harmful consequences for Croatian tourism, they claim at HUP. They remind of their earlier warnings that the solutions from the proposal contradict the provisions of the Constitution that guarantee property rights, protection of rights acquired through investment, entrepreneurial and market freedoms, and promote economic development.
HUP believes that the proposal is unjust as it places Croatian citizens, former owners, in an unequal position since some of them become privileged and receive in kind constructed or prepared construction land, while according to the Law on Compensation for Property Seized during the Yugoslav Communist Rule, other former owners do not have this right. HUP considers that the law puts certain companies in the hospitality-tourism sector at a disadvantage, as it is focused only on tourist lands that were not appraised during the transformation. The law is based on the assumption that a company acquired ownership only of land that was appraised, typically land that corresponds to the footprint areas of the building, or that which closely surrounds the building.
