ZAGREB, January 17, 2018 – Social Democratic Party (SDP) chief Davor Bernardić on Wednesday criticised Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for censorship, asking him “Where’s the money?” which in Croatian (Di su pare?) is the name of a satire Facebook profile, to which Plenković responded there was no censorship in Croatia and that everyone was allowed to speak their mind responsibly and in accordance with the law.
“Why can’t the ‘Di su pare?’ Facebook profile continue to be open in Croatia? It had over 300,000 followers, I followed it and I laughed when they wrote satirically about me. The government cannot ban satire or a Facebook profile,” Bernardić said during Question Time in Parliament.
“I don’t know if your question is the result of team building or an analytical approach to problems society and the government are faced with. As for the satire, humour and irony and those who wish to monitor phenomena in society that way, I am absolutely for that. I am a great advocate of a humoristic approach to politics,” Plenković responded.
The government is open to all criticism in a witty fashion and it supports all freedoms, he stressed.
“As far as your allusion to film censorship, as far as I know, Croatian Radio Television independently selects its programme. I believe the film (Ministry of Love/Ministarstvo Ljubavi) was aired and those who want to can watch it and those who do’t think it has any artistic value can also express their position. There is no censorship in Croatia and everyone can speak their mind responsibly and in accordance with the law,” Plenković said, but added that this did not mean that hate speech should be allowed in the modern communication era.
“One should make a distinction between what is humorous and what is insulting, especially when this is done on social networks by those who hide their identity,” Plenković said, adding that the government would soon propose a law to regulate responsibility in public communication.
