The non-governmental group Island Movement which advocates for the development of Croatian islands said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Transport, Sea and Infrastructure is "deluding the public" by claiming that the group is misinterpreting the latest maritime domain and seaports bill.

The group said that the draft clearly bring into question the public use of maritime domain.

In a statement sent to the media on Wednesday, the association replied to claims by Minister Oleg Butkovic who said that the new bill was in the works for 20 years.

“How is it possible that this has been going on for the past 20 years, yet the draft bill released on 19 July 2022 allowed for different interpretation of restrictions on the public use of the maritime domain, with a special emphasis on beaches?” the group asked rhetorically.

The association says that Minister Butkovic and ministry official Josip Bilaver have not rejected claims stemming from the current text of the bill, which explicitly states that the “complete or partial restriction of the general use of the maritime domain will be allowed,” with a “special emphasis on beaches.”

“Moreover, the ministry says that the problem will be solved by giving greater powers to local government units whose management has already proven to be inefficient and manipulative and has resulted in numerous cases of destruction and cronyism along the entire coast and on islands,” the Island Movement said.

It objected to Article 11 of the bill which, it says, provides for the possibility to completely or partially restrict the general use of the maritime domain, “when such restriction is allowed under a valid concession agreement, a contract on specific use or a contract on the temporary use of the maritime domain and on giving a port open to public transport to a port authority for management.”

The association also contests Article 46 of the bill, which envisages that maritime domain management plans would enable local and regional government units to “define types of seaside beaches, the purpose and model of management of beaches and the degree of restriction of or a ban on the general use of an individual beach.”

The bill also defines types of seaside beaches, which are classified into wild beaches and beaches with man-made infrastructure, which are further classified into public beaches and hotel, campsite and tourism resort beaches as well as special-purpose beaches, the Island Movement says, asking the ministry to clarify the articles in question and make sure the new law makes all beaches, regardless of their location, type or purpose, accessible to everyone under equal conditions.