Since there is still no defined ruling majority, the next attempt will take place within 30 days.
The first attempt by the Zagreb City Assembly to constitute after the recent local elections failed on Thursday morning. The formal reason for the failure was the fact that none of the elected councillor groups had formally submitted its proposal for members of the Mandate Commission, which is the formal condition necessary for the first assembly meeting to proceed, reports Index.hr on June 29, 2017.
The real reason was the failure of parties to agree on who will enter into the ruling coalition, which means that Mayor Milan Bandić has not yet succeeded in forming a majority. The next attempt will take place within the next 30 days. If the Assembly is not constituted in three attempts, both the Mayor and the Assembly members would be dismissed, and new elections would be held.
Still, it is believed that ruling majority will eventually be formed, particularly after Mayor Bandić recently accepted the proposal to rename Marshal Tito Square in the city centre, which was one of the conditions of right-wing councillors to support Bandić. It is expected that they will be joined by HDZ as the third partner in the future coalition.
“The Assembly will be formed within the legal deadline,” said Andrija Mikulić (HDZ) after this morning’s meeting. “Give us some time,” said Drago Prgomet (HDZ).
“We have made it clear that we expect to start the negotiations. Nothing dramatic has happened, and we will approach the talks very seriously. Our assembly group has nothing to hide. We received the confirmation two days ago that there will be a change of the name of Marshal Tito Square, but we still do not have details,” said Bruna Esih, the leader of the rightwing councillors.
Mayor Bandić’s associate Jelena Pavičić Vukičević said she did not want to talk about ultimatums. Asked about positions of heads of city departments, she said they would discuss everything during the day.
“Bandić has sold Marshal Tito Square for petty politics. I disagree with that, and I will vote against it,” said Anka Mrak Taritaš (formerly HNS), Bandić’s opponent in the second round of mayoral elections. “I will not sell the square for five votes in the assembly. The majority will be very unstable. Esih has not sold out her voters because she has based her whole election campaign on the name of the square. She has achieved a good result,” said Mrak Taritaš.
Several days ago, Bandić’s party issued a statement saying that “after preconditions have been met”, they had started discussions with HDZ and Bruna Esih’s party about forming the majority in the assembly, as well as about future cooperation of the majority councillors. “We are expected to agree on projects of particular importance for improving the quality of life of all citizens of the City of Zagreb in the upcoming mandate period,” said the statement. “Given the importance of the Zagreb City Assembly as the second most influential representative body in Croatia, it is of utmost importance to accelerate the process of reaching the agreement in order to provide citizens of Zagreb with better and faster public services,” concluded the statement.
