ZAGREB, March 3, 2018 – The political secretary of the opposition MOST party Nikola Grmoja on Saturday dismissed media reports saying that the newly-formed Association of Independent Mayors would be competition to his party.
“This association brings together mayors to deal with their own local problems. They are going to meet with the prime minister and are being received by ministers to discuss property-related and similar issues, and I can’t see any political competition here. The aim of this association is to deal with local problems and they obviously have good contacts with the ministries and with the prime minister himself,” Grmoja told the press after MOST’s convention.
The association was established in September 2017, bringing together about 40 independent mayors, most of whom are not formally members of the association.
According to media reports, Prime Minister Plenković is due to meet with the association’s representatives in the coming days. “I don’t think Plenković would receive someone who he views as competition. If they are not competition to Plenković, they can’t be competition to us either,” Grmoja said.
He said that MOST was excellently cooperating with many of the association’s members and that some of them were even MOST’s councillors. “Whether someone is using this association for specific purposes is another question and time will give answer to that,” Grmoja concluded.
