ZAGREB, May 30, 2018 – Živi Zid leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić said on Wednesday that his party had sent to parliament for consideration amendments to the Contractual Relations Act and the Foreign Exchange Act to abolish the foreign currency clause in Croatia by December 1.
Under the proposed amendments, all loans would be automatically converted into kuna loans and the risks and cost of the procedure would be borne by banks and not by taxpayers, Sinčić said, adding that his party was fighting for "monetary sovereignty and protection of the national wealth".
Commenting on the announcement by "The People Decide" civic group that they had collected enough signatures for a referendum to be called on changes to the election system, Sinčić said that his party had not supported that initiative but that some if its members had, noting that Živi Zid generally supported all civic initiatives as it wanted decisions to be made by citizens.
He said that the party did not sign the petition for a referendum to annual the ratification of the Istanbul Convention as it would be an ideology-based referendum and Živi Zid did not want to cause ideological divisions in society.
"Whether something is contrary to the Constitution will be decided by the Constitutional Court, and when a debate on the referendum is held, we will decide which position to take. The election system definitely needs changes and as to whether the proposed changes are the right ones – partly yes and partly no," said Sinčić, adding that his party would wait for signatures to be handed in and checked and a decision to be made on whether the referendum was constitutional.
"Signature gathering is one thing and a referendum for or against another," said Sinčić.