ZAGREB, September 5, 2018 – Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) president Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that the ruling majority in parliament was stable and that it would not fall if Darko Milinović returned to parliament, saying that he was prepared for all possible scenarios.
“We will not fall, we are the ruling majority. One vote more or less is unimportant to me, as HDZ president. What is important is to have the direction and the image of both the party and the country the way I want it to be and this has no price. I am prepared for all possible scenarios,” Plenković said after a session of the HDZ presidency and the HDZ National Council, held in Karlovac.
Commenting on Milinović’s decision to organise a protest rally outside HDZ headquarters in Zagreb on August 29 involving about 100 party members from Lika-Senj County, Plenković said this could not be tolerated. “A circus in the HDZ cannot be tolerated,” Plenković said.
Milinović, who was a member of the Presidency of the ruling HDZ and candidate for leader of the party’s Lika-Senj County branch, was expelled from the HDZ on Monday.
The decision came after the HDZ Presidency took disciplinary action against Milinović for a grave breach of membership obligations.
It is possible that Milinović will now return to parliament as an MP and vote against the government, which would halve the government’s majority from two MPs to one.
