Government Proposal: State to be Granted Right to Pre-Emptive Buying

The state will not sell its property but grant concessions for its use, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said on Thursday at a session of the Government which proposed that parliament change the Law on Islands to grant the state the right to pre-emptive buying.

The proposed changes will not prevent private owners from selling their real estate, but they suggest that private owners offer their real estate at market prices to the state first, Sea Minister Božidar Kalmeta said.

The state will have to respond to the offer within a period of 30 days and if a town or municipality fails to show interest in pre-emptive buying, the owner will be able to sell his property to whomever he wants.

Croatia has 1,246 islands divided into two categories - big and developed and insufficiently developed islands, with the latter including 746 small, occasionally inhabited or uninhabited islands, to which the proposed changes refer.

Kalmeta said that it was equally important that the changes proposed establishing the boundaries of the maritime domain on islands in cases where it had not been done yet, protecting islands against poor management, and promoting island economy.

The changes also envisage the adoption of a state program of protection and use of small, occasionally inhabited and uninhabited islands to help determine which islands are of special state concern. (Hina)

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