Just nine days after MOST put HDZ into power, HDZ reportedly unhappy with their new partners.
“It is possible that it took longer to choose the Veterans Affairs Minister than he managed to remain in his post.” With these ironic words a source from HDZ commented on Minister Crnoja’s resignation. The source expressed his disappointed with how the government which is supported by 59 MPs from HDZ began its work and with the fact that Tihomir Orešković’s government started its term with scandals and a resignation. He concluded that it was only a matter of time when some other coalition partner will again try to prove their independence within the coalition, reports Novilist on January 31, 2016.
“We have not yet started to govern, but MOST has already forced us to get rid of a minister, HSLS is criticising our coalition partner Ivan Tepeš, and all of this sticks to HDZ because the public always links everything to the largest coalition partner. With such allies, we do not need any opposition”, said a member of HDZ presidency. Just few hours later, the news came that Gordana Rusak, independent MP which supports the government, announced that the parliamentary committee which she chairs will question the decisions made by Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegović.
The party reportedly fears that any decision of the government or a HDZ minister in the coming months will be questioned by their partners if they feel that could be popular with the public. They believe that MOST could do that most often, since it keeps sending the message to the public that it does not need to worry since they will keep an eye on HDZ. According to HDZ sources, that is the reason why MOST insisted on a non-partisan prime minister in order to weaken the position of HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko. In the very first case, MOST demonstrated that neither Karamarko nor Prime Minister Orešković can save a HDZ minister if MOST demands their dismissal. The alternative was to have a parliamentary debate and a vote of confidence about Crnoja, where there was a possibility that 14 MPs from MOST could support the opposition. This has been confirmed by some sources from MOST who noted that it was clear as early as Wednesday that Crnoja must go.
One MP from HDZ admitted that it was not easy to work with MOST, which “acts more like the opposition in the government”. “For us, this is a torturous coalition. It cannot be compared with our former coalition with HSS and HSLS. Now we have to negotiate with MOST, and that is something new which so far does not appear to benefit HDZ”, said the MP.
MOST expects that a part of HDZ will want a payback, so they have sent a message to their ministers that they will also have to leave the government if some scandal from their past is discovered.
However, there are also optimists both in MOST and in HDZ who believe that these are just teething troubles for the new government, that the wounds will be healed and that both parties will understand that they are part of the same team.
