Petrov meets Karamarko, who confirms he will meet together with Prime Minister Milanovic on Monday.
HDZ President Tomislav Karamarko and MOST leader Božo Petrov met yesterday afternoon for two hours in Šibenik. After the meeting, Petrov said that president of HDZ confirmed that he would come to a joint meeting with SDP president and current Prime Minister Zoran Milanović in Zagreb on Monday. He added that they discussed foreign policy issues and those areas which were covered during the last two weeks of negotiations, and also the failed meeting of Croatian Parliament on Thursday. “We are very sorry that Speaker of the Parliament has not been elected, but I believe in consensus and I hope that we will be able to agree something on Monday”, Petrov said, reports Vecernji List on December 5, 2015.
Karamarko confirmed that he will take part in the meeting on Monday with Milanović. Asked if HDZ offered Petrov to become the next prime minister, Karamarko said they did not discuss any positions in government, but reiterated that he does not believe in the possibility of a tripartite government. “What is important is to try to create a parliamentary majority, because without a parliamentary majority we cannot do anything else”, Karamarko said and added that he does not want new elections which would be too expensive.
Božo Petrov added that he had talked on the phone with Zoran Milanović who confirmed his participation at the meeting on Monday.
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić, who is the leader of HNS, a party which is part of Croatia is Growing coalition, said that Croatia could get a new government before Christmas, and noted that SDSS, a party of Serbian national minority in Croatia, is an important partner in the formation of a parliamentary majority. “There will be no new elections. We will get a new government”, Pusić said on the sidelines of OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Belgrade, adding that voters sent a clear message that they support two main coalitions, but that they also gave their support to a new political platform. “My reading of that message is – everyone will have a hard time, you will have to make a compromise”, explained Pusić, adding that the current ruling coalition has a good chance to form the next government. “I think our coalition has a good chance. I expect that we will be able to form a government before Christmas. We are close to it”, Pusić concluded.
Večernji List reports that foreign diplomats in Zagreb believe that it is better for Croatia to wait a bit to get a strong government than to have a government which would be unstable from the very beginning. They did not want to comment on political developments in Croatia, except saying that their countries support all decisions made by Croatian voters. In informal conversations, most of them were not particularly worried by the inability of the parliamentary majority to be formed, since the state is functioning normally and similar situations frequently happen in their countries as well.
