Negotiations between MOST and HDZ Stalled Slightly over Environmental Protection

Neither representatives of MOST nor representatives of HDZ hid their satisfaction with the discussions at the HDZ headquarters on Friday after negotiations regarding a set of reform topics related to agriculture, energy, and environmental protection, with the only “slight disagreement,” as they said, arising around the primary waste selection.

– I am glad that we have agreed on the vast majority of issues. I do not know what will happen in the coming period, but I am leaving here with really good impressions. I liked the way we conducted the conversation, even though we did not expect such a large team (from HDZ). Over 20 people welcomed us, while in SDP we had one-on-one discussions,” said Ružica Vukovac (MOST) after three and a half hours of negotiations.

When asked what they did not agree on, she said it was about “something very small regarding ecology.”

She is particularly satisfied with the negotiations on agriculture because, she emphasizes, it is a sector that has suffered greatly due to politics.

When asked with whom MOST is more satisfied in the negotiations and how they will ultimately decide whom to support, Vukovac said that “the conditions that will be weighed” and how they will make a decision are still unknown.

– We have sought a government of experts, and that is what both sides support, and for us, that would be the best solution, said Vukovac. In MOST, she says, they think in the way: ‘Give us experts and let’s solve problems’.
For negotiations with the Patriotic Coalition and the coalition Croatia Grows, there are still a few topics left, and they will be prepared for next week, she said.

– We are going back to a retreat in Plitvice, and there we will discuss everything that is important and needs to be reformed.

– The only slight disagreement arose in the area of environmental protection, exclusively regarding the approach to primary selection and the obligations we have undertaken. We are uncertain whether we will be able to bring that system to a phase of about 50 percent primary selection in the next two or three years, said Darko Horvat, president of the HDZ Committee for Environmental Protection and Energy.

The president of the HDZ Committee for Agriculture, Krunoslav Zmaić, also did not hide his satisfaction with the discussions.

– We are very satisfied with these discussions, considering that we have been working on our program for three and a half years and have found a common interest with colleagues from MOST that is essentially completely the same, he said. The only question is, he emphasizes, the way to achieve certain goals, but he adds that it is only a matter of execution.

– We have the same interest, which is a strong and joint family agricultural holding, the issue of agricultural land, direct payments, rural development, said Zmaić, adding, however, that they did not go into details today.

When asked what he thinks about the initiative to establish an agricultural bank, Zmaić replied that the HDZ’s position is that agro-banks are indeed desirable. There are, he says, several models.

– Either the establishment of a new agro-bank or the use of existing infrastructure, which would mean the recapitalization of the Croatian Postal Bank or Croatia Bank, he explained.