These days, there was a public announcement that the Medically Assisted Fertilization Act would be enacted by an expedited procedure. According to the media, the competent minister announced that the law is “being enacted by an expedited procedure at next parliamentary session, in order to be implemented in May” and “it is my obligation for this law to begin to be implemented in May” (cf. Večernji list, March 28, 2012).
Regarding these and similar statements, we express our fears and concerns, since the announced deadlines are approaching and neither the official text nor the draft of the proposed Medically Assisted Fertilization Act has been revealed to the public. The religious communities in the Republic of Croatia have not been able to examine its content or, if deemed necessary, participate in the public debate with arguments.
We believe that every state government is called upon to be, among other things, in the service of all its citizens. Therefore, when adopting amendments to laws of this type, it is also under the obligation to ensure regular procedure and public discussion under regular circumstances, and to take all the citizens into account, especially when a law concerns the right to life of a human being and impinges on the cardinal institutions of society: marriage and the family.
We support the position of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, who, according to reports in the media, has announced in a general context that he is “in favor of laws being enacted according to regular procedure” and would “require from the Government of the Republic of Croatia for as many bills as possible to be handled according to regular procedure, and that there should be a special explanation for expedited procedure” (cf. Slobodna Dalmacija, March 14, 2012.). In this specific case, we believe that there is no justification for the amendment to the Medically Assisted Fertilization Act to be enacted by expedited procedure and denial of the right to public debate, especially because the current Medically Assisted Fertilization Act of 2009 already complies with the directives of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe dated 2004 and 2006.
Therefore, without entering here into the content of the amendment to the Act, we urge the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Parliament to apply not the expedited procedure but instead the regular procedure regarding these significant legislative solutions with manifold delicate implications, for which public debate is a necessary and indispensable prerequisite for the democratic process of enacting legislation.
All the members of religious communities, as citizens of this country, have the constitutional right to be active participants in public debate and, therefore, justifiably expect from legislators and the mass media not to be excluded but instead to be assured of an equal place in the Croatian public forum, without discrimination, labeling and belittling of their positions.
We encourage all the faithful of our communities to make a constructive contribution to the public debate on this important issue, and the media and all other factors of public life to build together a culture of dialogue and mutual respect for the common good of our Croatian society.

In Zagreb, April 16, 2012

Msgr. Vlado Košić, President of the Council of the Croatian Conference of Catholic Bishops for Ecumenism and Dialogue;
Mufti Ševko ef. Omerbašić, President of the Islamic Community in Croatia,
Luciano Moše Prelević, Rabbi of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Communities in the Republic of Croatia;
Rabbi Kotel Da-Don, Chief Rabbi of the Bet Israel Jewish Community in Croatia;
Fr. Slobodan Lalić, Rev. Stavrophor of the Serbian Orthodox Church;
Fr. Emil Cenov Angelov of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church;
Fr. Kirko Velinski, Archpriest of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid;
Archbishop Branko Berić, General Vicar of the Evangelical Church in the Republic of Croatia;
Bishop Lajoš Čati Sabo of the Protestant Reformed Church in the Republic of Croatia;
Toma Magda, President of the Association of Baptist Churches in the Republic of Croatia;
and Damir Špoljarić, M.S., President of the Evangelical Pentecostal Church in the Republic of Croatia