ZAGREB, March 9, 2018 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that he understood the sensitivity of some social groups regarding the Istanbul convention which, he said, for him “is primarily a convention that should promote national mechanisms for protection against violence against women and domestic violence” and he believes that the parliament will ratify the document.
“For me, the (Istanbul) convention is primarily designed to promote national mechanisms for protection against violence against women and domestic violence. It is entirely with that aspect in mind that we are launching the process of final preparations for the convention to be discussed by the government and be forwarded to the parliament, where I believe it will be adopted and where all dilemmas that exist will be cleared up,” Plenković told reporters. “I believe that the text explaining the convention can help clear up everything that now causes disputes among some political parties,” he said.
Asked about Family Minister Nada Murganić that the government would formulate reservations regarding the convention, Plenković said: “There are certain aspects that require better argumentation in the very explanation of the law, and you will learn about them once (the law) is discussed by the government.”
Plenković stressed that he set the dynamic of individual initiatives and that this was also true for the time chosen to send the Istanbul convention to the parliament. “It has nothing to do with either the coalition partners or the opposition’s motions or the protests by nongovernmental organisations, interpellations or anything else,” he said, recalling that in November 2016 he had said that the government would ratify the convention. Since then, the relevant procedures (public consultation, preparation of documents, additional consultations with the Council of Europe legal service) have been completed, he said.
