TRAVEL REPORT The Hon. Michael Atkinson MP Attorney-General ...

Agreement was ratified by Croatia on 3 March 2004 and is expected to comeinto effect in the second half of 2004 .High Level VisitsSignificant visits to Australia from Croatia in recent years include aParliamentary delegation, led by the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament,Mr Zlatko Tomcic, in June 2003 ; Mr Antun Vujic, Minister of Culture, inMarch 2003 ; Mr Bozidar Pankretic, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, inMay 2002 ; and Foreign Minister, Mr Tonino Picula, in August 2001 .Members of the Trade Sub-committee of the Joint Standing Committee onForeign Affairs Defence and Trade visited Croatia in April 2003 as part of theinquiry into expanding Australia's trade and investment relations with CentralEurope . An Australian Parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker of theHouse of Representatives, the Hon . Neil Andrew, visited Croatia inApril 2001 .Political OverviewFormerly a republic of the S.F .R.Y ., Croatia declared independence in June1991 . Subsequent conflict with the Yugoslav Army ceased in January 1992when the U .N . deployed a peace-keeping force in Serbian-held areas . InJanuary 1998 the last piece of Serbian-occupied Croatia, Eastern Slavonia,was returned to Croatian control . On 15 December 2002, U .N . peace-keeperswithdrew from the Prevlaka Peninsula giving control of all sovereign Croatianterritory to the Croatian authorities for the first time since independence .The Republic of Croatia is a parliamentary democracy . The President of theRepublic is the Head of State, directly elected for a five-year term . ThePresident is also Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and participates inforeign and national security policy decision-making and in the appointment ofthe heads of the intelligence services . The current President, Mr StjepanMesic, was elected in 18 February 2000 and the next election is expected totake place in late 2004 or early 2005 .The legislative branch of government is a uni-cameral assembly (the HrvatskiSabor) . The current parliament has 152 seats (eight are reserved forminorities and five for diaspora representatives) . Members are directly electedby popular vote and serve four-year terms .Recent Political DevelopmentsAt the November 2003 elections, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Coalitionwas defeated . The new minority government led by the Croatian DemocraticUnion (H .D.Z .), won 66 out of the 152 seats in Parliament . Under theleadership of No Sanader, the H .D.Z.s adoption of a more moderate, centreright position proved to be a successful strategy . The H .D .Z . party's maincoalition partners are the Democratic Centre (D.C .) and the Croatian SocialLiberal Party (H .S .L .S .) . Several smaller parties strengthened their positions,most notably the Croatian Pensioners Party representing pensioner'sinterests . The new Government reformist agenda includes commitments toco-operate with I .C .T.Y ., to allow the return of Serb refugees, to reform theTravel Report, Hon . Michael Atkinson, MP. and Ms. Vini Ciccarello MP., August, 2004 3 0