September 17, 2023 – Split Mayor and President of the Centar Party Ivica Puljak has made a number of interesting moves in recent weeks – from a sharp conflict with the head of the SDP, Peđa Grbina, and a split with whistleblower Maja Đerek to the “cancellation” of Dalija Orešković in parliament.
In an interview with Index, he also presented his new political thoughts.
You want Croatia without HDZ, and HDZ wants Croatia for itself, especially without you. The calculations are different, HDZ’s rating is 25 percent, but 70 percent are not satisfied with the work of the government. Plenković is not particularly popular, and neither are his ministers. How do you mean to turn it around?
It is not an easy task at all, and no one can say that they will win over HDZ because its members fill the media with their affairs. A good part of Croatian citizens forgives them almost everything, and the other part is in a state of disbelief that changes are even possible, so they simply leave Croatia. Then, even in the opposition, you have some who value their own position more than anything else, so they make it difficult to unify the votes of the majority of unsatisfied voters. It seems that politics in Croatia is a futile business, but that is exactly why we in the Centar party do not even think about giving up the fight for Croatia without HDZ. Because that’s the only way to have a chance for a state of all citizens, not just the privileged and corrupt.
The latest affair with Minister Gordan Grlić Radman shows the connection of the highest officials in the distribution of public money. Everything is according to the law, but it smells of corruption. Why does this not harm HDZ, a party that has already been convicted of corruption?
Because there are too many “Grlić Radmans” in Croatia, because each of us personally knows a “Grlić Radman”, so it seems that we have occupied ourselves with the worst among us. To many, the fight seems futile and lost in advance, so despite all their aversion to HDZ, they stay home on election day.
You do not see the possibility of cooperation with SDP and prime ministerial candidate Peđo Grbin. You say that the SDP is a party of the past. Who is the future you like – Centar and Mozemo? Action for Change Marko Jelic? Independent lists?
Let’s start with what you called “independent lists”. It is not a unified political profile, but there are so many different ones that they are in opposite worldview positions. You have an independent mayor who pays prostitutes with municipal money and you have those who spend their own money to point out to their fellow citizens the worst that HDZ has brought them, such as the independent list “Vrime je” from the municipality of Seget. We are honored to cooperate with them, and we have no intention of sitting at the table with duplicitous persons.
In Split, you don’t get along with SDP. Maybe it would be different at the state level, coalition governments function differently. It seems that in Split you have a worse relationship with SDP than with HDZ?
Inaccurate. We beat HDZ twice in Split and we disagree with them about the most important thing – about what the goal of politics is. We tried to cooperate with SDP twice, but their Split leadership entered into cooperation with us only because they did not dare to take the other side immediately after the elections. Unfortunately, even in the national leadership of the SDP, there is no energy to guarantee the fight for victory over HDZ. They seem to have surrendered, so it’s time for the elections…
Dalija Orešković dropped out of the conversation with the Centar, you don’t have any strong names in Zagreb.
When creating new political options, there are times when you cannot have everything at once. That’s why the reverse is also true – Mozemo, who won in Zagreb, did not even cross the threshold in the last elections in Split. Of course, we intend to prepare the Centar party in Zagreb for strong strides. Strong names will also come.
You are promoting the Dubrovnik lawyer Viktorija Knežević and her proposals for the work of the state bureaucracy, which she believes should introduce a work diary, shift work and not ask citizens for documents they already have. Did you do it in Split?
She started creating the framework of our national program, so she didn’t even want to immediately take some Split examples of changes that we have already brought. Among other things, we are the first public administration that introduced a contact center for better relations with citizens, we introduced electronic signatures in the entire administration, so that now all processes are much more efficient, we have reduced the number of employees. In addition to what we have already started, of course we will also prepare those policies that our old colleague and new member Viktorija Knežević is talking about.
The public conflict with the whistleblower and former member of your Split team, Maja Đerek, is slowly being forgotten. But HDZ will use it in addition to her claims that she was abused and mistreated in the workplace.
Unfortunately, with a barrage of flat-out attacks, she only shows why many realize people do not want to enter politics. And for this sentence they will attack me. But let her…
The Four Cities Initiative is an interesting domestic political diplomacy. Split, Zagreb, Rijeka, Osijek – Centar, Mozemo, SDP and HDZ – doesn’t this show that Croatia could perhaps be led by a large national coalition – when you understand each other at the level of cities that make up half of Croatia’s population?
Big cities should be drivers, engines of development.
For correctly set principled local policies, it is not important who is in power in which city today, but whether the places of those cities are correctly recognized in the Croatian architecture of the state. Unfortunately, they are not, and that is why some principled positions should be discussed in such a mixed framework. And tomorrow let the big cities win – the best.
Are you going to increase the income tax in Split from January 1, considering the abolition of the surtax and the tax reform?
We are currently doing final analyses as a basis for decisions. Our policy is to have as few taxes and levies as possible for citizens and entrepreneurs, but in such a way that we do not jeopardize the development and service we provide to them. We will try to find the best balance here as well.
This summer we saw how tourism brings money and inconvenience – pictures of urinating on the streets of Split were a viral hit. Are you thinking about limiting the number of visitors like some cities in Italy or is money more important?
For now, we have created a campaign to motivate guests to behave more appropriately, which was successful, and we will continue in that direction. We are also working on changing the guest structure, which is a slightly longer-term process.
When will we have parliamentary elections? When will Andrej Plenković spend the budget money and make the imperial meat cheaper? In the spring?
We will go to the elections when AP calculates which term gives him the best chance of winning. And I hope that HDZ will recalculate in its arrogance. I hope that Croatia without the HDZ government awaits us soon. Croatia is a real Western democracy. That’s why we set a choice for our citizens: either HDZ or Croatia. You cannot have both at the same time. And we in the Centar party choose Croatia.
