PM says Croatia today better than in 2016

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday Croatia today was certainly a better country than in 2016, when his government came to power, adding that "We are going after a vote of confidence for the second half."

Speaking on Croatian Radio, he said that in the first half, since 2016, the government worked on four promises made to citizens - political stability, legal certainty, economic growth and social solidarity.

Plenkovic reiterated that during his government wages increased, the average pay by HRK 1,150, that pensions increased, that Croatia had a sound economic growth, a budget surplus for three years, that the public debt was reduced and that the country came out of the excessive budgetary deficit procedure.

He said his HDZ party aimed to win 61 seats in parliament, as it did almost four years ago.

He said the July 5 election would be particular because right of centre were the HDZ, the Homeland Movement and Bridge, and on the other end a coalition which he said had no solutions. He underlined the importance of preventing a repeat of a dissipation of votes on the right.

PM: Influencing State Prosecutor's Office is furthest from my mind

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday commented on the wind park scandal, saying any corrupt behaviour must be punished and resolutely dismissing claims that he would influence the State Prosecutor's Office (DORH).

"In the 2016 campaign, it was him (Zoran Milanovic) who clearly insinuated that he would influence DORH. Unlike him, influencing that body is the furthest thing from my mind," he said on Croatian Radio, commenting on President Milanovic's statement that Plenkovic's call on law enforcement to investigate the Rijeka European Capital of Culture Project was a dangerous message.

"As far as I and the HDZ are concerned, there are no untouchables. Regarding the fact that there are other criminal reports as well, I just said the same rules should apply to all. That's not pressure."

Speaking of the wind park case, as part of which former HDZ state secretary Josipa Rimac was arrested last week, Plenkovic reiterated that any behaviour which indicated, and especially behaviour for which there was evidence of corruption, must and would be punished.

He said the ruling HDZ party would impose some sanctions and that he was convinced that those who, instead of doing what they had been appointed for, "practically represented the interests of someone abroad", would be ousted.

"That's unacceptable," he said, distancing the government, the HDZ and himself from it. "It's not in my habit to immediately understand that someone would do something like that, yet they were appointed for something else."

Plenkovic reiterated it was not good that surveillance was breached and that someone told the person in question that they were under surveillance. "Who could have said that?" he asked, adding that he expected DORH and the police to give an answer.

"I don't know how DORH can so laconically know that it was not their fault. How did they investigate that?" he said, adding that this was not the first time during his term that something like this happened.

"You had the case in which someone fabricated texts between the prime minister and his deputy, and no harm done," he said, asking, "What has been done about that?"

Plenkovic worried about situation in US

The crisis in the United States due to the high number of coronavirus fatalities, the rising unemployment and the violence after the police murder of George Floyd will evidently last and is cause for big concern, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.

He called Floyd's death "horrific and brutal" but put the current situation in the US in the context of everything that happened in recent months. 

"The situation doesn't look good if we put it first in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 108,000 lives in the US. And if we know that because of the economic lockdown, the number of people who have applied for unemployment benefits has reached 40 million."

"And then this horrific event which happened, where Mr Floyd died after such a brutal assault by a policeman, has caused riots, of course, which contain a whole range of disgruntlement, whether racial, whether from those who are impoverished and excluded," Plenkovic said on Croatian Radio.

He believes the crisis in the US will last. "That's not good for either the US or the world, and they are also in an election year." It all worries us very much, he said.

Text: Hina

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