The talks and political manoeuvring continue, but still no government.
Leaders of MOST and HDZ, Božo Petrov and Tomislav Karamarko, met yesterday afternoon in Šibenik for the second time in the last few days. They reportedly discussed the proposals for a joint tripartite government which were presented by MOST on Monday’s joint meeting with HDZ and SDP in Zagreb, reports Tportal, Vecernji List and Novilist on December 10, 2015.
After the meeting, Petrov said that “cooperation with one side which accepts our conditions set on Monday – a non-partisan prime minister and reformist government – is possible. We expect a clear answer by next Monday. We invite both parties to accept our proposal, but if only one party accepts this proposal, we will continue to work with the party which has accepted, expecting that the other party will later accept to enter into a tripartite government. We have given a realistic deadline. I do not know why the President called SDP and HDZ to meet her next Monday, but nevertheless it is a positive step forward that both major parties have been invited to consultations with the President.”
“There has been certain progress, we have listened to our colleagues from MOST and have expressed some doubts and scepticism, but it is important to continue to talk. We will be united, unlike the other coalition which is already falling apart”, Karamarko said after the meeting.
At the same time, lower ranking members of MOST met in Zagreb with representatives of SDP, despite the fact that some of SDP’s coalition members have already rejected the proposal about tripartite government. SDP was represented at the meeting by ministers Branko Grčić and Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, who stressed that they not only represented the entire Croatia Is Growing coalition, but also “a little more than that”. It was unclear whether at the meeting SDP openly rejected the proposal for a non-partisan prime minister.
Ivan Lovrinović from MOST said that they demand implementation of reforms. “Our most important condition, in discussions with SDP and HDZ, is to look for a new prime minister, since our opinion is that neither Milanović nor Karamarko should and could be candidates for the post of prime minister. We believe that the new direction for Croatia demands a new prime minister, in order to create a new atmosphere in the society”, Lovrinović concluded.
Yesterday evening, minister Goran Maras said that Zoran Milanović will remain prime minister. “Prime minister will be the person which is nominated by the Croatia Is Growing coalition, and that will be the current prime minister Zoran Milanović”, Maras said. He added that he expected the Parliament to be constituted next week. “I think that next week there will likely be a meeting of the parliament, and that then we will quickly form a coalition which will have the majority support”, Maras said.
Drago Prgomet, who has left MOST together with other two members of parliament, yesterday organized a meeting of his new party HRID and decided that next week they will decide which major coalition they are going to support. “We do not advocate the idea of a grand coalition. We are ready to talk with both the left and right political options, to set the conditions under which we are ready to support them, and then to very quickly make a final decision”, Prgomet said.
Novi List reports that there is a possibility that the parliament could be constituted by the end of this or early next week. Speaker Josip Leko will convene a continuation of the parliamentary session only after he receives signatures of 76 MPs who want to participate. Prime minister Zoran Milanović took on the responsibility to talk with the newly-elected representatives to ensure that at least 76 of them agree with the continuation of last week’s session.
SDP president spoke with representatives of different political opinions until 3 am on Wednesday, and continued with talks during the day as well. At the end of the day, he was certain that there were at least 72 members of parliament ready to support the speaker which would be proposed by his coalition. Possible names being mentioned are current speaker Josip Leko and HRID president Drago Prgomet.
In addition to Stipe Petrina, a former member of MOST, Milanović has reportedly received support of three members of HRID and two members of HDSSB. Although the talks are underway with some individual members of MOST, they would not be necessary for the parliament to be constituted, if a proposed candidate were to receive votes by Albanian national minority representative Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić from Živi Zid, and two MPs from the party of Milan Bandić. But, the situation is very fluid and could still change.
