The no-confidence motion was rejected with 59 votes in favour and 78 against.
Early on Saturday morning, after a long debate which started on Friday, the Parliament rejected the opposition’s motion of no confidence against the government. The result of the vote was 59 votes in favour of the motion and 78 against, with 14 MPs not voting. At least 76 votes in favour were needed for the proposal to pass, reports N1 on November 11, 2017.
The main opposition party SDP launched the motion of no confidence against the government after gathering signatures of 31 opposition MPs (19 from SDP and 12 from other opposition parties). After submitting the proposal last week, SDP leader Davor Bernardić said the move was necessary to reveal the corruption and clear up the mess in which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s government found itself regarding the Agrokor case.
On Thursday, the government rejected all allegations from the opposition’s motion and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the government had acted preventively, in a timely manner, and expressed hope that the company’s restructuring process would continue in the best interest of the Croatian economy and in the best interest of jobs.
Although the burden in this vote was on the opposition to gather 76 votes, which seemed unlikely from the very start, the government brought all its MPs to the Parliament and showed that it can still count on the support of 78 MPs, two more than the absolute minimum and the same number of MPs which supported the government the last time it had to prove it had the majority (in spring, when HNS replaced MOST as a junior coalition partner).
After the vote, SDP president Davor Bernardić said that “this is the defeat of Croatia.” The fact that political corruption, horse trading, buying MPs and secret deals behind the closed doors can survive in Croatia is a defeat for a normal democratic country, the SDP leader said. “Our job is to ensure that something like that should never again be possible in Croatia. That is the reason why our children’s future has been stolen, why so many people have fled the country, why Croatia is demographically devastated, and why many people have no prospects or jobs. We will persevere in truth,” said Bernardić in a brief statement after the parliamentary session ended.
Reacting after the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that his government was protecting the national interest, the Croatian economy, financial system stability and jobs. “As I have already said, this was the fourth unsuccessful opposition initiative. They opted for an instrument which they knew in advance would not be passed by the Parliament,” said Plenković.
He also added that the initiative was unnecessary. “This will not prevent us to continue implementing our programme, striving for a better quality of life for Croatian people, to continue with the reforms and positive trends in the Croatian society. We will demonstrate the difference between serious and responsible politics and politics we had a chance to see today,” said Plenković.
He also reacted to recent statements by President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović who said that Croatia was in a state of emergency, alluding to the general negative social and demographic climate. “Croatia, of course, has difficulties and problems, but it also has a government which deals with these problems, and we have demonstrated that on all issues which have come on the agenda,” said Plenković, refusing to comment further on President’s recent habit of strongly criticising the government led by the party which nominated her as a presidential candidate two years ago.
In addition to the vote on the motion of no confidence against the whole government, the MPs also voted on a separate motion of no confidence against Minister of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy Nada Murganić, due to the failed launch of the new Family Law. That motion was rejected with 49 votes in favour and 78 against.
