ZAGREB, March 2, 2018 - A parliamentary debate about draft amendments to the parliament’s standing orders, which started late on Thursday afternoon, lasted all night after opposition lawmakers persisted in the night-long debate, angered by the overruling of their proposal that the debate should actually start on Friday morning.
This is the first time that the Croatian legislature had a night-long debate in the past 20 years.
The discussion which lasted all night involved a handful of opposition lawmakers who insist that in this way they stand up for the protection of freedom of speech. "We have shown that things could be pushed to absurdity, and we did it only to show to the governing majority what they are doing to standing orders as regard democracy," said Anka Mrak-Taritaš of the liberal GLAS party.
Ines Strenja Linic of the MOST party believes that this way "we have proven that we are not a futile opposition".
Ivan Vilibor Sinčić of the Živi Zid party said that the proposal to change standing orders was actually degrading the national parliament.
Arsen Bauk of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced 17 amendments to be put forward by his party to draft standing orders, and added that the adoption of a new rulebook could be delayed until next week in case a thousand amendments were submitted.
