After a two-month summer recess, the Croatian Parliament will begin its regular autumn session on Monday morning at the temporary location of the "Franjo Tuđman" military academy in Črnomerec, Zagreb.
The autumn session, according to the Constitution, lasts until mid-December, and will open with a current affairs session in which 41 MPs will ask questions to the Prime Minister and members of the Government. The first to do so will be independent MP Boška Ban, and the last independent MP Josip Jurčević.
The agenda of the 7th session of the Croatian Parliament includes more than 120 items, 99 of which are from the previous session.
During the autumn, the budget revision for this year is expected to be adopted, as well as an autumn package of measures to assist the most vulnerable citizens.
The deputies will also have before them various work reports, including the one from the Chief State Attorney on the work of state attorneys' offices in 2024, which will be presented on Wednesday. By deciding to put this item on the agenda in the first week of the session, the Speaker of the Parliament, Gordan Jandroković, preempted the SDP, which planned to use the procedural opportunity and use the deputies' signatures to push this item for discussion, that is, to bring Ivan Turudić to the Parliament.
The deputies are also waiting for the adoption of a series of laws, one of the most important of which is the law on defense, which introduces basic military training. If an agreement is reached, they should also elect three judges of the Constitutional Court, as well as the president of the Supreme Court.
Among the opposition initiatives, the SDP is entering the new session with a proposal to amend the Criminal Code and the Misdemeanor Code, which would introduce punishment for glorifying the Ustasha, Chetnik and other regimes, as well as denying and glorifying crimes committed after the Long World War.
We Can! is going to interpellate the government's work due to the changes in the tax office USKOK during the summer months, and will once again propose recognizing Palestine.
Most announced the launch of an initiative to impeach the Minister of Culture and Media, Nina Obuljen Koržinek, due to state funding of festivals that, they believe, insult the Homeland War, Croatian veterans, and the fundamental values of modern Croatia.
On Monday, after the current morning session and the presentation of the positions of the parliamentary groups, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković will submit a report on the European Council meetings held.
On Tuesday, the Parliament will discuss the amendments to the Law on the provision of services in tourism, which were referred to the procedure under the urgent procedure due to accession to the OECD and which aim to resolve the issue of different treatment in the provision of tourist guide services.
On Wednesday, Chief State Attorney Turudić is scheduled to submit a report to the parliament on the work of the state attorney's offices in 2024.
By the end of the week, there are four more legislative proposals on the agenda, among which, on Thursday, changes to the Act on Housing Care in Subsidized Areas. The key novelty of these changes is the introduction of a new model of housing care by purchasing, rather than renting, an uninhabitable state-owned apartment.
Viktorija Knežević from the Center announced her departure from the parliamentary benches this fall. She announced that she would return to law practice and continue working as a city councilor in the Dubrovnik City Council. She will be replaced by Damir Barbir.
SDP's Peđa Grbin also announced his departure from the Parliament in order to devote himself to his duties as mayor of Pula. Marijan Pavliček (Croatian Sovereignists), who was elected mayor of Vukovar, also announced that his parliamentary mandate would be suspended from October 1.
The Croatian Parliament will sit until October 31, after which it will take a break for the All Saints' Day holiday. After the holiday, it will begin a new session that will last until December 15. It will operate according to the model of three weeks of parliamentary sessions and one week of field work by representatives. Only the first working week will be in session from Monday to Friday, and otherwise, as before, from Tuesday to Friday.
Photo: HINA/ Damir SENČAR
