Božo Petrov: Government Can Be Stable without Karamarko

MOST leader gives a telling interview.

Deputy Prime Minister and MOST president Božo Petrov gave an interview to Nova TV on Wednesday evening. He spoke about the INA and MOL case and about the role of First Deputy Prime Minister and HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko in the whole affair, reports dnevnik.hr on May 19, 2016.

Will MOST support Tomislav Karamarko when SDP’s motion of no confidence comes to a vote in Parliament?

I can say that the situation is not good, because every day some new details emerge. MOST will announce its decision in due course. What is important is that we should wait to see how the situation will evolve over time.

You say – every day new details emerge? Do you expect there will be more documents coming out?

I cannot know that. We should wait, but I can say that the situation is not good.

Has Karamarko ever disclosed the fact that his wife used to have a contract with MOL’s consultant?

There was no discussion about the INA and MOL case at official sessions of the government, so that is probably the reason why he did not give any information about the business relationship between his wife’s company and Mr. Petrović. When we first spoke publicly about this topic, our goal was to protect national interests. It is important to protect the country.

Karamarko says there is no scandal here and that everything is made up. What do you think?

We should let the Commission for Conflict of Interest Prevention give its opinion. MOST will also announce its opinion at the end. But, surely there is at least partial political responsibility. It would be best if we had the opportunity to known this information in advance, because we would probably have better situation. I think it is necessary for a person to exempt themselves at the time when there is a possible conflict of interest.

Zoran Milanović says he is negotiating with MOST about the possibility of you supporting SDP’s motion of no confidence.

I know the lobbying skills of Mr. Milanović, so I would tell him that he is not exactly popular in MOST and he should not lobby, because it could have an opposite effect.

When will you make a political decision whether you support Karamarko or not?

We will do it when we have absolutely all the information. But, I would like to quote HDZ secretary general Milijan Brkić, who said that a person does not make a government. Therefore, this government can be stable without Mr. Karamarko and without me and without anyone else. The government is the whole team. When we have all the information then we will know what will happen in the next 15 days or a month.

There are some who claim that MOST is actually behind many of these documents and other things happening around INA and MOL. Is there any truth to that?

I do not see why would we in any way try to bring down the government. MOST is certainly not behind these attacks. For me, this is primarily a problem within HDZ and I would like for HDZ to solve it within itself.

 

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