Even though the government is likely to fall as early as next week, it still makes major decisions.
On the day when HDZ’s 42 MPs from the ruling coalition officially included in the parliamentary agenda a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković, which could bring down the whole government within a week, the government held a regular session which included HDZ’s ministers who unanimously with their colleagues from MOST made decisions with long-term effects. The fact that the government at this moment probably does not have the support of more than 20 percent of MPs did not bother them a bit, reports Index.hr on June 8, 2016.
At the open part of today’s session, the government adopted 31 items on the agenda. In addition to regular legislative decisions and harmonization of laws with EU legislation, there were also some controversial executive decisions.
The government today gave approval for the contracts on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons. It is an executive decision, according to which agreements on exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons will be signed in six exploration areas. The contracts will go to INA, Nigerian company Oanda PLC and Vermilion from Canada. The investments could be worth as much as 88 million euros. It is telling that these are contracts waiting from the time of Prime Minister Zoran Milanović’s previous government, but they had not been signed so far because the State Attorney’s Office had objections to the content of the contracts.
The government also adopted regulations “on the right of construction in forests and on forest land owned by Croatia”. This decision allows the construction in forests that are owned by the Croatian Forests public company, and the government decided that golf courses and camps will be built in areas which are outside of construction zones as defined by spatial plans.
During the meeting, the government also made a decision on the manner of granting concessions on almost everything, with limit being that they cannot be longer than 99 years. The government also gave support to the construction of the first phase of the LNG terminal project – the construction of a floating terminal for storage of liquefied natural gas on the island of Krk.
In a closed session, the government made as many as 88 new appointments to various positions within the vast administrative system.
