Plenković: Most’s Speaker of Parliament Does Not Mean Control. Petrov: This is the Beginning of Good Cooperation

On Thursday afternoon, everything was agreed with Most, stated HDZ president Andrej Plenković to the media in the Croatian Parliament on Friday at noon. He particularly emphasized that seven points of Most were agreed upon.

– We agreed on a rotating model for the Speaker of Parliament (for the first two years, the speaker will be Petrov, and for the next two years, HDZ). We agreed on the structure of the Government, said Plenković, adding that Most will have a Deputy Prime Minister who will also be the Minister of Administration. They also received the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Justice, and Environmental Protection.

The leader of Most, Božo Petrov, confirmed that a compromise was reached, a compromise that has both good and bad aspects.

– We believe that this will be a stable Government. I thank HDZ for recognizing our seven guarantees, he emphasized.

He added that they have quality solutions for some departments.

– But on the other hand, the will of the voters was such that HDZ had 61 mandates after the elections, and Most had 13. I think we have reached a fair agreement, and we believe that is why it will be a stable government.

Regarding the number of signatures, Plenković said they are counting on Most’s 15, “we have 90 signatures, and maybe someone else will join by Monday.”

He explained that appointing a member of Most as the Speaker of Parliament does not mean control, the media reports.

– I hope that period is over. I hope that the situation that occurred in the previous Government has ended, said Petrov, adding that he believes they have reached a fair agreement.

– What we consider to have been achieved in this agreement is that all three most important functions do not belong to one political party, which I think is good for democracy and the political system. We wanted the Speaker of Parliament to be a member of Most for the first two years because we want to build trust and be sure that the processes will start as we agreed before, said Petrov.

Plenković said that the HDZ Speaker of Parliament, whoever he may be, will perform that function honorably. He did not reveal to journalists which HDZ member will succeed Petrov as the head of the Parliament (the media mention Gordan Jandroković).

– This is the beginning of good cooperation for us, Petrov said in response to a question about whether this is a coalition or cooperation. He added that the term coalition was associated with political trading, and that this is cooperation.

Plenković emphasized that after the elections, HDZ had alternatives, but their priority was Most.

– This is a message of credibility. With the support of minority representatives, which is particularly important to me, that such an arrangement is a guarantee of stability for both the Government and the parliamentary majority, he added.

Plenković also announced certain modifications to the ministries, but added that he would speak about that in more detail later.

If everything goes as planned, Plenković could bring 90 signatures to President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović on Monday, which is a record as no mandate holder has collected that many so far.