HDZ president Plenković wants to cooperate with HSS, SDP’s coalition partner.
HDZ president Andrej Plenković gave an interview on Saturday to Croatian Radio and expressed his confidence that he would get the support of more than 80 MPs for the new government, reports Index.hr on September 17, 2016.
“MOST is open to cooperation. I am sure that we could also cooperate with two MPs from the party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić, and representatives of national minorities. I think there will be some partners who went to the polls as part of the People’s Coalition as well”, said Plenković.
He said that HSS, as a member of the European People’s Party, was HDZ’s most important partner and that he would love if the party were to return to “its political family”. “For HDZ, HSS is our only ‘cousin’ in the political sense, all other parties are our partners”, he added. He said that the decision made by HSS president Krešo Beljak to go to the polls as part of the SDP-led People’s Coalition was not wise and that, although they now have more seats in Parliament, there was a large number of HSS members who were unhappy with this decision.
Plenković said that he cooperated very well with HSS’s Marijana Petir in European Parliament, while former HSS president Branko Hrg had achieved a good election result as part of HDZ’s candidate list in the second constituency. “I hope there will be an evolution of internal processes within HSS and that the party will get back to its political family. As far as I am concerned, the doors are open and I would like to re-establish cooperation with them. I think that would be supported by voters and members of HSS”, said Plenković.
Asked about the demands of some national minorities MPs (Milorad Pupovac, Furio Radin) that current Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegović must not be the a minister in the next government, Plenković said that it was up to the Prime Minister-Designate to decide who would be the minister in each ministry. “At this stage, I have a pleasant task to choose from a range of high-quality colleagues who already have specific duties. One of the candidates is Hasanbegović. He can also give his contribution as a member of HDZ presidency. We will see who the ministers will be”, concluded Plenković.
He did not want to talk about the distribution of portfolios in the future government and about the names of potential ministers, but only said that the future government will have several deputy prime ministers.
