The latest from the Croatian political soap opera.
The fourth round of consultations between Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović and party representatives will take place today, however, it is expected that no one will come with signatures of support of at least 76 MPs to be named as prime minister-designate. Representatives of MOST and Croatia is Growing coalition will ask the president for a few more days, reports Index.hr, Vecernji List and Jutarnji List on December 22, 2015.
That is the result of recent events between MOST, Croatia Is Growing and Patriotic Coalition, during which Patriotic Coalition refused to accept to enter a tripartite government. Ultimately, there will be no such government, so the coalition negotiations will continue between MOST and Croatia Is Growing. Leaders of the two sides, Božo Petrov and Zoran Milanović, said yesterday that they will reach a definitive agreement soon. Petrov said that the name of the new prime minister will be known “when we define everything”. According to unofficial information, Milanović has offered to MOST the signatures of MPs from his coalition to bring to the President today, but MOST told him they need a little more time.
Under the Constitution, the president must give the mandate to form the Government to the person who enjoys the confidence of the majority of all MPs. After the third round of consultations, the President warned that there was “less and less” time and that she would not allow any lengthy delays. It is still uncertain whether she could call new elections today or whether she will give parties one more chance to make a deal.
Sources from the Patriotic Coalition argue that their president clearly said last week that, if no one had 76 signatures today, she would call new elections. Croatia Is Growing coalition representatives say that she has not given them such a clear ultimatum. “She just told us that she expects to name the prime minister-designate on 22 December”, one of the leaders of the coalition said.
Sources from the Office of the President last week claimed that the President intended to convene another round of consultations before deciding to call the elections, and had threatened with the possible deadline only to force political actors to finally come to an agreement.
If he wants to become prime minister, Božo Petrov will have to prove that he has the support of at least 76 MPs. MOST until yesterday evening had 15 MPs, and with 66 signatures which have been collected by Croatia Is Growing they would have more than enough. But, the question is whether all those MPs who have given their signatures to Milanović are ready do it for Petrov as well.
And the question is whether all of MOST MPs are ready to support possible agreement with SDP-led coalition. Yesterday evening, a representative of the Citizens’ Option of the City of Osijek (GOGO) Miroslav Šimić, one of 15 MPs from MOST, announced that he would withdraw from MOST National Council. “At out meeting, we have decided that Miroslav Šimić, as a representative of the Citizens’ Option, will withdraw and that as an MP he is not authorized to give his support to anyone without the prior decision of the Main Council”, reads the statement released last night on their Facebook page. The reasons for this decision are still not known.
