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With democratic legitimacy to a stable government for the bold decisions that lie ahead

Photo /Vijesti/2020/05 svibanj/18 svibnja/EYUAb9_XYAIyYN9.jpg

Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that the HDZ would soon outline its election agenda, focused on stability, economic growth, social solidarity and on "a new kind of Croatian sovereignism in the changed circumstances."

"The HDZ is intensively preparing the agenda which will be soon made public," Plenkovic told a news conference on Monday evening at which he presented the achievements of his government in the last four years.

He added that the document would include also the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

I believe that when casting ballots in the election, our voters will conclude correctly who can do something, who has made some results, and who is behind others, he added.

He said that his cabinet was not a government of populism, demagogue nor was it a rabblerouser.

We are not the government that will instigate ideological divisions in the society, Plenkovic said.

"On the contrary, we will try to minimise such topics... and focus on the essential: economic growth, social solidarity and strengthening of the institutions."  In this context he reiterated the important role of the state in the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic and again praised  the public healthcare and civil protection system for very good response to the epidemic and recalled the government's economic measures.

On the back of those achievements and our management of this crisis we expect the election results to be such to give us one more term in power, he added.

As for possible partners, having in mind the fact that the election system did not give rise to hope that any political party could win an absolute majority of 76 seats, the HDZ will seek partners with similar mindset and programmes so as to establish a stable government, according to Plenkovic.

Plenkovic: Now safest time for election

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that over the past few months Croatia had been faced with two huge challenges, the coronavirus and the fight for jobs and economic recovery, assessing that the dissolution of parliament and calling the election at this time is the best option.

"The main reason that we as the largest party in the ruling coalition and the parliamentary majority proposed the dissolution of the Croatian parliament with our partners, and they all supported it and with a convincing majority today voted on it, is the following: over the past few months Croatia was faced with two huge challenges, one was the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, epidemic in Croatia, and the other was the fight for jobs and economic recovery which this government conducted in parallel," Plenkovic told a press conference after the ninth Croatian parliament was officially dissolved.

Both challenges were exceptionally demanding and required maximum effort from all of us, he added.

He underscored that thanks to the timely measures and responsible behaviour by all citizens who showed an exceptionally high level of personal and social responsibility, Croatia minimised the disease to the lowest possible level, slowed down its spread and for days now has had single-digit numbers of new cases.

"Comparatively looking, that situation is very good. In that way, we showed that the state is functioning, that our health system is resilient and I can claim that in this first phase of the battle against COVID-19 we were exceptionally good and faced its challenges with a high quality," said Plenkovic.

No one knows what will happen in the autumn or after that

Seeing that Croatia is in an election year and that no one can with certainty know or presume what will happen during the autumn or after that, during the winter next year, the government, he stressed, considers that now is the right time for Croatian citizens to be given the opportunity to go to the polls to elect a new parliament.

"We are in an election year. The last election was on 11 September (2016), as such, any time for the election whenever the President chooses within the constitutional time-frame that he has, will be a regular election," he said.

"It is better to hold the election in this situation when we know that the epidemic has practically calmed down to its least possible variable than that we should by chance be in the situation of some new wave of the epidemic - which I hope will not occur - would be even more significant. Then we would be in a situation that we would have to adopt important and essential decisions for Croatian society but would not be certain that we can organise a normal election in conditions where everyone has an equal chance," concluded Plenkovic.

Text: Hina



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