Petrov: The Government is Impotent for Reforms, It is the Right Time for the Recall of Dalić

The leader of Most, Božo Petrov, stated on Monday that now is the right moment to submit the opposition’s proposal for the recall of Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalić to parliamentary procedure, calling the government “impotent when it comes to implementing reforms,” and referring to the Istanbul Convention as a “smokescreen of the Prime Minister.”

“As far as we are concerned, now is the right moment and we will talk to representatives of the SDP who also make up the opposition and who have given their signatures for us to submit it as early as tomorrow,” said Petrov on “Opposition Comma” of Croatian Radio, regarding the initiative of the parliamentary opposition for the removal of the Deputy Prime Minister.

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He reminded that there are clear deadlines regarding when this item could be on the agenda. “The government needs to respond within the next, I think, eight days, after which it is up to the Speaker of the Parliament, who has 30 days in which he will define when it will be discussed exactly,” he explained. He also stated that he is not in favor of a secret vote on this matter because the goal of the recall is to show which parliamentary representatives will protect, as he said, the “compromised minister” with their political integrity.

The Key is Grevio – Additional Loss of Sovereignty

Petrov also commented on the disputes regarding the Istanbul Convention, calling it a “smokescreen” with which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković shifts the public focus from important issues, explaining the reasons why he will not support its ratification, and in response to a question about gender ideology, he replied that “he will not get into that.”

“The key reason I am personally against is Grevio, an international body above the state that will have the ability to reprimand both Croatia and Croatian citizens, and will be able to arbitrarily assess what the Istanbul Convention refers to. For me, this is an additional loss of sovereignty. Furthermore, the question is how ready Croatia is to fulfill the obligations imposed on it,” said Petrov.

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“The Istanbul Convention is not in question” but he added that he would like the already adopted laws in Croatia to be respected.

When it comes to voting, Petrov said that there is no unanimity in Most and that the ‘Most members’ will vote on the Convention as each of them wishes.

The Istanbul Convention is a “Smokescreen of the Prime Minister”

“The Prime Minister has imposed this topic on his electorate, his party members, and people who hold certain positions in the HDZ. I believe that some of them really consider it extremely important how they will position themselves regarding the Istanbul Convention. Indeed, it is an important topic, but on the other hand, Plenković did not raise it because it is important to him but to shift the focus from important topics and to deal with dissenters, but also to please the European Commission,” assessed Petrov.

With the Istanbul Convention, the Prime Minister will, Petrov is convinced, try to deal with his dissenters in the HDZ and shift the focus from Agrokor.

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He does not believe, he says, that the ruling party will make this a year of reforms and stated: “I believe that this government is impotent when it comes to implementing any reforms, which is evident over the last year and a half.”

When asked whether the SDP, which initiated the interpellation regarding the government’s work due to the non-implementation of reforms, can expect support from Most, Petrov replied that the current government does not enjoy the support of his party and that this will be shown through voting.

Petrov also commented on the floods, stating that the tragedy of what is happening to people across Croatia these days is significant and asserted that it is “very inappropriate for the Prime Minister to exploit the misery of people, to come and take pictures on the ground, speaking as if this is happening in a movie.”