What did the Parliament do in 2012?

The death of the President of the Croatian Parliament Boris Šprem, the increase of VAT to 25 percent, the confirmation of the Accession Agreement to the European Union, changes in Zoran Milanović’s government, are events that marked the first year of the seventh term of the Parliament, which was constituted after the parliamentary elections at the end of 2011.

After a long and exhausting battle with illness, Boris Šprem died on September 30 at the age of 57, in a hospital in Houston, USA, where he was being treated. Šprem was buried at the Mirogoj cemetery in Zagreb with the highest state honors, and the government declared that day a Day of Mourning.

He was succeeded at the head of the parliament by Josip Leko, also a member of the SDP, who was unanimously elected by the Parliament as its president on October 10, and who expressed confidence that future generations of this term would remember it as one that did a good job for Croatia and its citizens.

The seventh term regularly began its sessions in 2012 on January 18, and the very next day, with 127 votes ‘for’ and one ‘against’, adopted the Declaration on Croatia’s membership in the European Union, confirming that joining the EU on July 1, 2013, is a strategic national interest. The Declaration called on Croatian citizens to participate in a referendum on Croatia’s accession to the EU and express their democratic will. The referendum was held on January 22, and two-thirds of the participating citizens voted in favor of joining the Union.

The ruling Kukuriku coalition fulfilled one of its pre-election promises at the first parliamentary session of the year – by a majority vote, the Law on the Rights and Duties of Representatives in the Croatian Parliament was amended, abolishing the so-called privileged pensions for representatives, judges of the Constitutional Court, and the Chief State Auditor.

At that time, the Law on Preventing Conflicts of Interest was also amended, ensuring that the government could propose members of management bodies and supervisory boards in companies where the state or local units have ownership without a public tender. The opposition assessed this law as a return to the selection of politically suitable individuals in public and state enterprises.

February was marked by the adoption of a package of tax laws, which increased the general VAT rate from 23 to 25 percent as of March 1, placing Croatia among European countries with one of the highest VAT rates (only Hungary has a higher rate of 27 percent). A lower rate of 10 percent was introduced for edible oils and fats, baby food, and processed food based on cereals for infants and small children, for water supplies (except bottled or packaged water), and for white sugar.

This legal solution also stipulated that as of the beginning of the next year, the reduced VAT rate of 10 percent would also apply to hospitality, i.e., food in hospitality establishments, non-alcoholic beverages, wines, and beers in those establishments. Amendments to the Bankruptcy Law included workers in the first higher payment order, guaranteeing them the payment of three minimum wages in the country, and the government boasted that the state budget for 2012, adopted on February 24, reduced the budget deficit by more than 5 billion kuna. The government also projected a budget growth of 0.8 percent for this year, which proved unattainable in the second half of the year.

On March 9, the Parliament unanimously ratified the Accession Agreement of Croatia to the European Union, under which Croatia will become a member on July 1, 2013, after the ratification process is completed in all other member states of the Union. In the middle of that month, 12 parliamentary representatives were appointed as observers in the European Parliament. After Croatia’s entry into the EU on July 1, 2013, elections will need to be organized for 12 Croatian representatives in the European Parliament.

The second half of March will be remembered for the disputes between the President of the Parliament Šprem and the judge of the Zagreb County Court Ivan Turudić, who, while leading the trial against former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, told witness and former President of the Parliament Luka Bebić: “Look, you are not in the Parliament, I warn you to behave properly.” Šprem labeled the judge’s message as a disrespect to the Parliament and demanded an apology from Turudić, which the judge did not provide.

The Parliamentary Presidency decided in April, against the opposition’s objections, that the Parliament would no longer be the patron of the commemoration in Bleiburg.

In April, the first changes in Milanović’s government occurred – SDP member Zlatko Komadina resigned from the position of Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, justifying this decision by his deteriorating health, although the media cited strained relations with Prime Minister Milanović as the main reason for his resignation. Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, the former Krapina-Zagorje County Prefect, succeeded Komadina in the ministerial position on April 18.

At the beginning of May, the ruling majority rejected the HDZ’s request for the Parliament to express no confidence in the Minister of Science, Education and Sports Željko Jovanović. The HDZ called Jovanović unworthy of holding ministerial office, claiming that his statements did not promote a culture of dialogue, respect for diversity, and consideration, and that he undermined the dignity of the Parliament and its representatives.

In spring, there was also a second change in the government – SDP member Mirela Holy resigned from the position of Minister of Environmental Protection and Nature, thereby, as she herself stated, bearing the political consequence of her thoughtless act of sending an email to the President of the Management of HŽ Holding, asking him to consider retaining the job of her party colleague’s wife. On June 13, the Parliament expressed confidence in Mihael Zmajlović as the new Minister of Environmental Protection and Nature.

After seven years of prohibition, on July 15, St. Mark’s Square in Zagreb was opened for public gatherings and peaceful protests, which the Parliament enabled by amending the Law on Public Gatherings. This law stipulated that public gatherings and protests are limited to an area 10 meters from the Parliament and the Government and 20 meters from the Constitutional Court, and a maximum of 1500 participants could attend such gatherings, who could access St. Mark’s Square and stay there between 8 AM and 10 PM.

In July, the Parliament also amended the Law on HRT, under which the parliament will elect all management bodies of the national radio and television – the Director General, the Directorate, the Program Council, and the Supervisory Board – by a qualified majority of all representatives.

The Parliament also amended the General Tax Law and enabled the publication of the list of tax debtors, appointed Boris Vujčić as the new governor of the Croatian National Bank, and passed a law on the criteria for participation in tripartite bodies and the representativeness of unions for collective bargaining.

Before the summer break, the Parliament also amended the Law on Sports and adopted the Law on Sports Inspection, which the government intends to use to bring order to sports clubs, and the Law on Education in Primary and Secondary Schools was also amended, abolishing the obligation to finalize grades at the semester. The parliamentary Rules of Procedure were also amended, so after 20 years, corrections of incorrect statements are no longer heard in the Parliament, but this institute has been replaced by a reply, expanded in such a way that a representative can reply to both a government representative and a representative of a parliamentary club, and this person can respond to the reply.

However, the most heated debate was sparked by the new Law on Medically Assisted Reproduction, which was fiercely opposed by the opposition HDZ and HDSSB, echoing the Church’s stance. The new law allows for the freezing of embryos. It permits fertilization of 12 eggs, with two embryos being able to be implanted into the woman’s body, and exceptionally, for women over 38 years old, who have not been helped by any method, all eggs can be fertilized and three embryos can be implanted into the reproductive organs. The remaining embryos are frozen.

After the summer break, representatives gathered again in the Parliament on September 18, for the autumn session, which we will remember for the obligation of representatives to record their attendance in the Parliament with electronic cards, but no sanctions were foreseen for those who do not attend or record their attendance. In September, the Parliament confirmed the lifting of immunity and the initiation of criminal proceedings against HDZ representative Petar Čobanković, against whom USKOK filed charges in the ‘Planinska affair’.

At the beginning of October, representatives said their final goodbyes to Boris Šprem for the last time, and in mid-November confirmed the third change in the government this year – after being sentenced by a Hungarian court to one year and ten months in prison for causing a traffic accident that resulted in the deaths of two Hungarian citizens, Radimir Čačić resigned from the position of First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy.

The duty of First Deputy Prime Minister was taken over by Foreign Minister Vesna Pusić, Ivan Vrdoljak became the Minister of Economy, who was, in turn, replaced in the position of Minister of Construction by Anka Mrak Taritaš.

At the last session of the year, the Parliament passed numerous important laws and decisions. The Law on Fiscalization in Cash Transactions introduces fiscal cash registers starting from 2013, which are expected to record every cash transaction made, amendments to the Bankruptcy Law regulated that bankruptcy no longer allows for the continuation of business, but introduces a pre-bankruptcy settlement in that part.

At the end of October, the so-called ‘list affair’ broke into the public, which, apart from the dismissal of the head of the Office of the National Security Council Petar Miščević, did not lead to greater upheavals. This affair was also addressed by the parliamentary Committee for Internal Policy and National Security, which determined that, apart from oversight failures in the monitoring of phone call lists, there was no illegal conduct by the police. The ruling majority rejected the HDZ’s request for the parliamentary investigative commission to deal with this affair.

The rebalancing of the state budget was adopted at the end of November, increasing budget revenues by 1.4 billion kuna and expenditures by 1.5 billion, and at the beginning of December, the state budget for the next year was also voted on, with planned revenues amounting to 113.7 billion kuna and expenditures of 12.5 billion – the planned budget deficit is 10.9 billion kuna.

The Parliament also decided that starting in 2013, in accordance with EU regulations, the zero VAT rates on bread, milk, books, medicines, orthopedic aids, and cinema tickets will be abolished, which will henceforth be taxed at a rate of 5 percent. From the first day of the New Year, possession of drugs for personal use will no longer be treated as a criminal offense, but as a misdemeanor, as stipulated by amendments to the Criminal Code, under which non-payment of wages will be treated as a criminal offense, except in situations where the employer is unable to pay wages due to lack of funds.

The Parliament also amended the rules related to local elections, so if the budget of a municipality, city, or county is not passed, the representative body of that unit and its directly elected local leader (mayor or county prefect) will also go to early elections. However, the ruling party left the possibility of recalling directly elected leaders in a referendum initiated by citizens.

In order to organize the voter registers, the Parliament adopted a new Law on the Voter Register and amended the Law on Residence, while amendments to the Law on the Rights of Veterans enabled the public publication of the Register of Croatian Veterans. The list of veterans was ceremonially published on December 19, and made publicly available by the ministers of veterans, defense, and internal affairs.