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Zagreb - Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković recalled on Tuesday that 30 years ago today parliament adopted the so-called Christmas Constitution and thanked Croatia's first president, all the creators of the Constitution and all members of the first Parliament who voted for it.
"They had a responsible historic role and will therefore never be forgotten," Jandroković said in a statement on the occasion of the first Croatian Constitution's 30th anniversary.
The adoption of the Constitution, as the highest political and legal act as well as the fundamental constituent state document, established the political and legal order of the state, whereby Croatia was returned among sovereign European democracies, where it belonged civilisationally and historically, Jandroković said.
"The Constitution founded Croatia as an integral, indivisible, democratic and welfare state with inalienable and non-transferable sovereignty. And freedom, equality, ethnic equality, peace-building, social justice, respect for man's rights, the inviolability of property, the preservation of nature and man's environment, the rule of law and a democratic multiparty system were defined as the highest values of Croatia's constitutional order," he added.
Months of work on the Constitution
Jandroković recalled that the proclamation of the Constitution was preceded by months of work after the first president, Franjo Tudjman, requested that it be drawn up.
The first draft was drawn up by a team of parliamentary experts with Vladimir Šeks at the helm. In the meantime, the Presidency of the Republic formed a commission of over 200 members from which came a second expert working group. The final draft was drawn up by Šeks, Smiljko Sokol and Zdravko Tomac. The preamble was written by Tudjman.
The Members of Parliament's then three councils recognised the historic moment and by proclaiming the Constitution, they democratically expressed the Croatian people's staunch determination and democratic choice of a free and independent Croatia, said Jandroković.
Tudjman's foresight and state-building
He said that 30 years on, the words with which president Tudjman ended his speech in parliament on 22 December 1990 when the Constitution was proclaimed proved his foresight and state-building.
"We hope that our descendants and history will give us a favourable grade, from the point of view of both today's and the future interests of every individual, all citizens, all of the Republic of Croatia and all of the Croatian people. As of this historic moment, the Republic of Croatia exists as a constitutional republic," Tudjman said among other things.