The new bill on foster care was taken off the agenda of the parliament’s committee on family, Jutarnji List daily reported on Friday, adding the bill was withdrawn due to strong opposition by the liberal Croatian People’s Party (HNS), a junior coalition partner in the government.

Jutarnji List reported that the HNS was opposed to the legal definition of the term “foster family” which does not explicitly mention life partnerships as a family union meeting the conditions for providing foster care.

“We’ve told our partners in the ruling coalition that the HNS cannot accept that definition, because it would denigrate the entire Life Partnership Act, as well as some parts of the Constitution,” HNS MP Milorad Batinic told Jutarnji List.

This bill would mean direct discrimination of life partnership, he said, adding it was absurd that a single person can qualify as a foster parent, but a “legally recognised family union” cannot.

That is our firm position and we will not back down. We agreed to continue consultations with our partners on Tuesday, and depending on the outcome of the talks, a decision will be made as to whether the bill can be discussed at the plenary session on Thursday,” he said.

The Croatian parliament passed the Life Partnership Act in July 2014, while the country’s constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples.

The Act made life partnerships equal to marriage in all matters except adoption, which remains illegal for same-sex couples. It did, however, introduc partner-guardianship, which is similar to stepchild adoption.

Civil society group Rainbow Families (Dugine Obitelji), which provides support to LGBTIQ couples and individuals who wish to have children, on Tuesday called on MPs to amend the final foster care bill and enable same-sex couples to provide foster care to children without adequate parental care.

By doing so, the parliament would put Croatia in the group of developed European countries such as Germany, Spain, or Ireland that treat all their citizens equally, regardless of their sexual orientation, the NGO said.

In September this year, Demography Minister Nada Murganic had said that the bill would treat foster care as an occupation, meaning that foster parents would get an allowance from the government. The legislation is aimed to encourage foster parenthood, raise the number of foster parents, and promote foster care for children with special needs.

The bill was sent to parliament in late October.

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