ZAGREB, February 22, 2018 – Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said on Wednesday evening that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković should step down over the latest crisis in the case of the Agrokor food and retail conglomerate, as should his deputy and Economy Minister Martina Dalić.
Commenting at a news conference on the crisis caused by the decision of the government-appointed emergency administrator in the ailing conglomerate, Ante Ramljak, to resign, Bernardić said that Dalić, as the minister in charge of Agrokor, had to read reports by the emergency administration on a weekly basis and had to know how much consultants in Agrokor’s restructuring and Texo Management were paid for their services.
“If she knew (about the fees), she lied that she did not know, and if she did not know, she is completely incompetent, either way she has to go,” the SDP leader said, noting that Plenković, too, should go for defending the minister.
Bernardić also criticised Plenković for having waited too long to react to the latest crisis and for letting Ramljak resign on his own, noting that Plenković should step down also because the government was unable to find a successor to Ramljak.
The latest crisis in Agrokor was prompted by public discussions about fees charged by Texo Management, Ramljak’s former employer hired by Alix Partners as a subcontractor consultancy in the process of Agrokor restructuring, which amount to 250,000 kuna per week.
Asked if the SDP group in the parliament would launch an impeachment procedure against the government, Bernardić said that “the situation for us has been the same for the past three months during which we have been demanding that the government should step down.”
The political secretary of the MOST opposition party, Nikola Grmoja, said that the party would “make concrete steps and decide with our colleagues in other opposition parties whether to launch an impeachment procedure against the government or some of its ministers.”
