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Zagreb - Foreign Ministry State Secretary Andreja Metelko Zgombić said in the parliament on Thursday that Croatia was one of the countries that had created "very good" conditions for the work of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).
Croatia is among the few countries that have enabled the EPPO to have direct access to the data base of their public prosecutor's office, which shows how much Croatia and its Office of the State Attorney-General and ultimately the government, are willing to cooperate, said Metelko Zgombić.
She said this in reference to MP Arsen Bauk's statement that an expert analysis on the alignment of national legislations with the EU regulation on the EPPO, commissioned by the EC, says that many EU member states that have transposed that regulation into national law, solve conflicts of jurisdiction between domestic and European prosecutors in a way that is not in line with EU law.
That is generally done by the State Attorney-General and should be done by a court, Bauk said, asking if there were plans, considering the current developments, to align also that provision of the law on the European public prosecutor.
Metelko Zgombić said that she had no information about the EC launching any procedure against Croatia regarding possible non-compliance. We have not received any informal opinion either, she said during a debate on a plan for the Sabor to adopt 49 laws aligning the Croatian legal system with EU law in 2024.
The government's proposal for the reappointment of Zdravko Vukić and Igor Vulje as the director and deputy director of the Personal Data Protection Agency (AZOP) for another four-year term met with reservations among some opposition parties.
Considering his unusual political career, the SDP will not support Vukić for another term, Bauk said, adding that in the past 24 years Vukić had changed four parties, being a member of the HSLS, HDSSB and HSP-AS before eventually joining the HDZ.
Bauk noted that AZOP was not overly active when during the coronavirus pandemic the state encroached on personal data and human rights in several instances.
Karolina Vidović Krišto (Determination and Justice) said she would not support Vukić either, citing indications that 19 years ago he took a bribe.