Maras: The only way to save Plenković is if we are not better, while only the SDP can save Croatia

The 7th reporting-thematic convention of the SDP on Saturday accepted a new party program called “For a Good Society” with a convincing majority of votes, with six against out of about a thousand delegates.

The key determinant of the program is, emphasized its main author Davorko Vidović, “orientation towards the future”. The previous program was written in 1996, and the world and Croatia, as well as the SDP, have changed quite a bit since then, he said.

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“We are not afraid of the future, we want to meet it, this is the thought that guided us in creating a program that offers citizens a better and more progressive future,” said Vidović, adding that in writing it they wanted to avoid unproductive discussions about the past that divide society. He also assessed that the program shows courage to step out of the state of conflict that presses the country, in order to make a step forward.

“After 27 years of fascination with the state, we have forgotten about society, and Croatia has become a country of surplus people,” said Vidović. People have become a burden in it, and the focus of the new program turns precisely towards people and a good society, he said.

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He emphasized that the SDP particularly highlights social investment in the new program, which implies that educating children is not an expense but an investment in the future. He stated that the situation in the labor market is “increasingly precarious”, which is why the SDP insists on investing in people, from children in kindergarten to the elderly, and focuses on lifelong learning.

Vidović believes that the program also anticipates changes in neglected institutions that have collapsed, which is why a significant step is needed in the system of managing society and offering a radically different face of politics. He also criticized parties, including the SDP, for being preoccupied with themselves, which is why they have become clientelist and an end in themselves.

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About 40 delegates participated in the discussion about the new program, some of whom were quite critical.

Mirando Mrsić pointed out that the SDP “despite having the ‘Government of Andrej the Indecisive’, has remained ‘at 20 percent’. If elections were held today, 20 percent of our votes would go to the Living Wall, and ten percent to Most,” assessed Mrsić. “Instead of fighting to be first, today we are fighting not to be third,” asserted Mrsić. He added that SDP members must admit that they have been overtaken by apathy and indecision, and that the party has not established itself as a protector of citizens, and that they should have clearly stated in the program that people come before profit.

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“They remember us for selfies and satire, but have we offered a solution in the last year,” he asked, to which several shouts of discontent came from the hall. “We no longer have time for experiments and mistakes, come on, let’s awaken ourselves,” called Mrsić to the membership.

He was responded to by a delegate from Slavonia, Željko Macanić, reprimanding him: “Mirando, what you are saying is not encouragement, nor was your part related to workers good, so we endured it.”

Some speakers called for an end to internal party disputes and party unity. However, Peđa Grbin was also critical, stating: “Today we have a government that is the worst in history, the other day it received the biggest slap from Brussels, and the SDP, despite this, is not recognized as an alternative.” According to him, the reason for this is that they have not provided citizens with ideas and content.

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He criticized the authors of the program for using the party’s most important document to settle scores with those they disagree with, as the moves of the previous SDP government are referred to as demagoguery in it. He concluded that the presented program can only be a basis for developing new policies, which the SDP must start tomorrow. Otherwise, he assessed, the SDP’s lag behind the HDZ will remain the same, and the program will be dead letters on paper.

Gordan Maras emphasized that the SDP must change for the better because only a better SDP can save Croatia, which must return citizens to focus. “Plenković can only be saved if we are not better, while only the SDP can save Croatia,” he stated.