After 13 years of waiting, Croatia will see another debate between prime-ministerial candidates.
After a break of 13 years, a television debate between presidents of HDZ and SDP will finally again take place. Both Andrej Plenković and Zoran Milanović have agreed to take part in the debate on the Croatian Radio Television (HRT) on 12 August, reports Novi List on August 2, 2016.
In recent days, it seemed that Plenković, just like his predecessors Ivo Sanader, Jadranka Kosor and Tomislav Karamarko, would avoid debating Milanović, who has persistently called for the debate while the HDZ president gave a lot of vague answers. HDZ general secretary Gordan Jandroković yesterday morning still declined to say whether Plenković would accept the invitation that HRT sent to Milanović and him a week ago.
However, last night Plenković confirmed he would take part in the debate. “Milanović has progressed from insults to debates. I am ready to take part in the debate, immediately before the start of the official election campaign. Key candidates for the next Prime Minister will have the opportunity to present their programmes and confront their arguments”, said Plenković.
While Nova TV and RTL were waiting, HRT was quick to react and invited Plenković and Milanović to a live debate which will last for 60 to 70 minutes. The debate will be hosted by Mirjana Posavec and Mislav Togonal, and will include several broad topics: internal and foreign policy, economy and finance, health and social affairs, demographic policy and education, and general worldview issues. If one of the candidates does not show up, HRT is ready to conduct an interview with the other candidate.
Last week, SDP general secretary Igor Dragovan spoke with Jandroković to agree on all the details about the debate. Jandroković was supposed to tell Dragovan by yesterday morning the Plenković’s decision, but it did not happen. Therefore, SDP considered the possibility to issue a short-term ultimatum to HDZ to accept the debate on HRT. However, after Milanović yesterday again called on Plenković to accept the debate, the HDZ president did just that.
