Despite Prime Minister’s statement, Vesna Pusić’s candidacy for UN Secretary General does not seem to have support of everybody in the ruling coalition.
Member of Parliament Pero Ćorić (HSP AS) began collecting signatures of protest against the candidacy of Vesna Pusić to be Secretary General of the United Nations. According to sources, so far he has collected 18 signatures among MPs, including several MPs from HDZ and MOST. Ćorić expects to collect between 20 and 30 signatures which will then be sent to the government and the UN Security Council, reports Večernji List on April 16, 2016.
“Having heard the statement of Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković that the government was supporting the candidacy of Vesna Pusić, I wanted to demonstrate that we do not accept it. HSP AS has not been consulted and asked whether we supported her candidacy. I would not support her to be president of a tenants association, let alone the UN Secretary General”, said Ćorić who added that the Prime Minister should be more careful with such statements. He said that they had not found any written record that the government had formally decided to support Pusić.
His initiative was signed by Miodrag Demo (BM 365) and Mirko Rašković, a representative of the Serbian minority. Ivica Mišić (MOST) also signed it, but his party colleague Robert Podolnjak, who is Deputy Speaker of Parliament, said he did not intend to do it. “MOST has not debated this issue and therefore we only have what the government announced about it. I do not know whether anyone from MOST has signed it. I personally have not signed anything and I do not intend to”, said Podolnjak.
His party colleague Miro Bulj, however, argues that MOST has a joint position on the candidacy of Vesna Pusić and that they do not consider her as the best choice for that position, because she accused Croatia of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1990s.
The initiative was also signed by several HDZ MPs.
Peđa Grbin (SDP) said that MPs who signed the initiative “do not know what they are doing”. “I think that the candidacy of Vesna Pusić is good for Croatia because it is an opportunity that we present our politicians and positions at such an important place. I think that Prime Minister Orešković showed that, from time to time, he can act as a Prime Minister and not as a puppet in someone’s hands”, said Grbin.
“We cannot take away the candidacy from her, since she took advantage of the legal vacuum and was nominated by caretaker government led by Zoran Milanović. But, in this way, we are depriving her of legitimacy and legality. If the government stands behind her, then we will not be part of this government or they can throw us out”, said Ćorić.
