After the meeting, Plenković spoke about latest events.
HDZ president Andrej Plenković met today with representatives of the diplomatic corps in Zagreb, reports N1 on July 27, 2016.
“We wanted to present the basic guidelines of political activities ahead of early parliamentary elections, to convey main messages that relate to our priorities and that is to return credibility of our party, which is a member of the European People’s Party and is firmly positioned on the centre-right part of the political spectrum. We also said that we wanted to be a party that would contribute to stability”, said Plenković after the meeting.
“Those who do not know me wanted to meet me. They wanted to hear what we think about post-election coalitions, the main priority points of our manifesto, and our positions after the referendum in Britain”, added Plenković. “When it comes to candidate lists, we have sent a letter to our local organizations and told them to take into account the quota for women. We will make decisions about candidate lists next week.”
Plenković said that the ambassadors had not asked him anything about the dissolution of the Council for Electronic Media, nor about the abolition of funding for non-profit media. “We did not discuss these issues”, said Plenković.
He also stated that there was no discussion about what happened today in Srb, where members of an extreme right-wing party protested against the event marking the start of the anti-fascist uprising during the World War II. “HDZ and the state mark official state holiday on 22 April. Today is a day which was marked during the communism and it has often been used for manipulation and exploitation. HDZ respects anti-fascism, as it is mentioned in the Constitution. We want to work on solving all the outstanding issues with Serbia and I would like to also address the issue of an inappropriate note which was sent by Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to our ambassador. I want to send a very decisive response that such note is considered to be unacceptable by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we have already agreed that with Foreign Minister Kovač”, he said. Asked about a lot of Ustasha symbols which were carried by protesters in Srb, Plenković said that “in accordance with the law, we condemn such symbols and all totalitarian regimes”.
Plenković also discussed the latest polls. “You have seen the poll which was published two days ago. Our support has increased for one third since the end of June. We have brought back credibility to HDZ. Those who are not strong enough have to go into coalitions. We will collaborate with various partners”, he said. Asked whether they were in discussions with MOST, Plenković said. “After the elections, we will talk with all those with whom we share programme priorities.” When it comes to negotiating with potential partners, Ruža Tomašić from the Croatian Conservative Party, Drago Prgomet from HRID, and Milan Kujundžić from Croatian Dawn, Plenković said that consultations were still ongoing.
