Next round of negotiations between HDZ and MOST has been postponed until Monday.
According to unofficial sources, in its coalition negotiations with HDZ, MOST will demand not only the position of First Deputy Prime Minister, but also of Speaker of Parliament, reports Jutarnji List on September 30, 2016.
“Detailed discussions have still not taken place, so there are a lot of spins, but I can confirm that it is true that MOST wants to name Speaker of Parliament,” said a source from HDZ. He also confirmed that on Thursday MOST suddenly broke off negotiations with HDZ. “We have not received any explanation for the interruption, they just said there would be no negotiations until Monday”, said the source.
Officially, HDZ announced there was “no interruption in negotiations, but just a joint agreement for talks to continue on Monday, since MOST needs additional time to go through the briefing materials”.
HDZ leadership says that next week they would discuss positions in government. “Everything will be solved together: how many ministries will the future government have and who will take responsibility for which portfolio, and that includes the position of Speaker of Parliament”, said the source. Some believe that this demand could be part of the MOST strategy to respond to the alleged attempts by HDZ to decrease the number of ministries which MOST controls in the government.
“The allocation of posts must be proportional, since HDZ won 61 seats in Parliament, while MOST has 13 seats”, said an HDZ source. Another source said that MOST must not get more than four ministries. “That would be blackmail. Plenković has no reason to be so generous. This is not realistic. I think that Plenković will be tough in these discussions.”
There are rumours that Ministry of Economy will be split, with the smaller ministry being allocated to HDZ, while the energy portfolio would be transferred to the Environmental Protection and Nature Ministry which would be controlled by MOST. Also, there is information that MOST will not be able to keep both the Interior Ministry and the Justice Ministry, and that it will have to relinquish one of them.
All the details on forming a new government should be agreed by 13 October. HDZ president and future Prime Minister Andrej Plenković wants to conclude negotiations with MOST by that date, so that the first sitting of the new Parliament, which will take place on 14 October, would be successful and that the new Speaker could be elected, which would mean that Parliament is officially constituted.
Also, the second round of consultations between President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and party leaders will take place on 10 October, and Plenković expects that he will be able to bring to his meeting signatures of support from at least 76 MPs, which would enable the President to officially name him the Prime Minister-Designate.
