Still no sign of a new government or prime minister, as Croatia’s president announces new session of Parliament.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović met yesterday with leaders of political parties elected to the Croatian Parliament and discussed with them the issue of who should be named as prime minister-designate. According to the Constitution, the mandate to form the government should be given to a person who, due to the distribution of seats in the Parliament, enjoys the confidence of the majority of all the representatives, reports Index.hr and Vecernji List on November 27, 2015.
After meeting with all the political parties, President announced that at the moment no one has the majority and that the new round of consultations will take place on 7 December. She also announced that the first meeting of the new Parliament will be held on 3 December.
The President first met with Istrian IDS party. Its president Boris Miletić said that its 3 MPs will support SDP president Zoran Milanović as prime minister-designate. “Our position is clear. We are ready to support the centre-left government and we gave our signatures to Zoran Milanović. We believe that Croatia should get the new government as soon as possible.”
He was followed by representatives of national minorities. Six of the eight representatives confirmed that they support Milanović. Representative of Albanian minority Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj has not given her signature to Milanović and has not disclosed whom she would support. Also, although the party representing Serbian minority announced that its three MPs will support Milanović, one of their elected members, Mirko Rašković, came alone to a separate meeting with the President and complained that he was being pressured by his party and that at this moment he is not supporting anyone.
Minority representatives were followed by representatives of smaller parties. As expected, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić (Živi Zid) said he would not support anyone. Dragan Vulin (HDSSB) said that his two MPs still have not decided to support either of the two major coalitions. Radimir Čačić (Reformists) gave his support to Milanović.
Representatives of MOST, who are key to forming the new government, said that their negotiations with two major parties will continue. “We have presented to the President the same view we have been talking about for weeks. We expect both sides to provide answers to our demands. I hope we will be able to sit at the same table. We have not made a commitment to any coalition. We are waiting for HDZ and SDP to take a stand. MOST currently has 16 seats, by the end of the weekend we will know where our two representatives Rusak and Petrijevčanin stand”, Božo Petrov, leader of MOST, said after meeting the President.
Zoran Milanović, SDP President and current Prime Minister, was next in line to meet the President. “Everything is clear, we have 66 signatures, which is not enough. We are going to continue with the negotiations, we cannot do it without MOST. We want to talk with the whole MOST about the future of Croatia. We are discussing everything, and I do not know whether MOST will stay together or break up.”
The last to come to the consultations were the representative of HDZ and its Patriotic Coalition. “I will not tell you the precise number of signatures we have, but we are close to a large number. Everything depends on our colleagues from MOST. We have very similar positions. We are reiterating that we support all the reforms. I believe that everything will end in about ten days. We need to get a strong government as soon as possible”, Tomislav Karamarko, HDZ president, said.
At the end of the day, President Grabar-Kitarović addressed the media. “I have just finished with the first round of consultations. Consultations have shown that at the moment no one has sufficient support of members of parliament. The second round will be held on 7 December. I would also like to express concern because I have been informed about threats and pressures that some lawmakers are subjected to. The first meeting of the new Parliament will be convened on 3 December. There is no need to delay anything, let us immediately get to work”, the President said.
