HDZ president says there is enough time to conclude coalition negotiations.
HDZ president Andrej Plenković said on Friday that that the negotiations on forming a new parliamentary majority and government will be successfully completed within constitutional deadlines, which will start running on Monday after the official announcement of election results, reports Index.hr on September 23, 2016.
Plenković told reporters that negotiations were going well. Asked whether he would have enough MPs’ signatures of support to become Prime Minister-Designate at the first round of consultations with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović next week, he replied: “We will see. That is not the key point, since we have enough time. Constitutional deadlines will start running on Monday.” He noted that the negotiations so far have been mainly concerned with the identification of HDZ’s views and the opinions of their potential coalition partners.
Asked about speculation that MOST might enlarge its parliamentary group to 15 MPs and whether that would strengthen their position in negotiations, Plenković said that he was satisfied if MOST could agree on post-election cooperation, stressing that HDZ did not try to lure MPs from other parties or parliamentary groups. “With 61 seats in Parliament, we have achieved a convincing victory in parliamentary elections, and we have several more MPs who will support us. If the parliamentary majority is stable, then the government will also be stable and effective”, he said.
Journalists also asked him to comment on situation at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, where students and some professors demand the resignation of Dean Vlatko Previšić and say they could “occupy” the Faculty. Plenković said that he was monitoring the situation and would like for things to settle done so that the faculty could continue to operate normally. “Universities are autonomous; there is the dean, the rector and the relevant minister. When the time comes, then we will make a comment”, he said.
HDZ secretary general Gordan Jandroković also told reporters that his party would have a sufficient number of signatures to take to the President within the constitutionally defined deadlines. “HDZ won the majority and is now negotiating on the future parliamentary majority and the government. Everything will happen within the constitutional time limits”, he said.
