Glavašević reacted to ‘radical neoconservatives undermining fundamental freedoms’

SDP representative and member of the party’s Presidency Bojan Glavašević stated at a press conference on Thursday that the actions of certain conservative associations represent a form of fundamentalism and reported that he sent a parliamentary question to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković after some media reported that “radical neoconservative groups in Croatian society, individuals from HDZ and the Catholic Church” are working together with the aim of undermining the fundamental freedoms and values guaranteed by the Croatian Constitution.

When asked by journalists about the situation in the party, about the attacks by SDP president Davor Bernardić on opposition parties, about whether SDP is divided over the purchase of military aircraft, and about the employment of Dragan Zelić, the long-time executive secretary of the NGO GONG, in the SDP parliamentary club, Glavašević did not wish to respond.

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I understand that daily political squabbles are interesting, but what I am talking about here concerns the life of every citizen of Croatia, and you will ask someone else on another occasion, this is in no way comparable, Glavašević responded to journalists’ inquiries.

He informed journalists that he sent a parliamentary question to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković after the Faktograf portal, Slobodna Dalmacija, and other media reported on the interconnectedness of “radical neoconservative groups in Croatian society, individuals from HDZ and the Catholic Church” who, he said, act with the aim of undermining the fundamental freedoms and values guaranteed by the Croatian Constitution.

Glavašević: Some of the mentioned groups are funded with public money

The government must protect fundamental human rights and freedoms, maintain the achieved level of rights, and protect secularism, Glavašević emphasized, noting that presenting conservative ideas within the existing constitutional order is legitimate, but presenting radical ideas that undermine that constitutional order, especially if they advocate some extreme or extremist methods, is not.

– That is in no way legitimate, it is a form of fundamentalism, and there is actually no difference between such fundamentalism and, for example, Islamist fundamentalism, he asserted.

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He also stated that some of the mentioned groups are funded with public money, asking whether Croatian citizens agree that such associations are funded with their money. Many of these associations have been very non-transparent in presenting their finances, and there are implications that some of them are funded from outside Croatia, Glavašević said.

Hybrid action

The Prime Minister once spoke about the existence of hybrid action, which seemed to be something devoid of arguments, but the question is whether, if someone acts with the aim of undermining constitutional values and freedoms and is financed, perhaps, from outside Croatia and has a hidden political agenda, that could be characterized as hybrid action, he asked.

Glavašević also wants the Prime Minister to answer whether it is true that HDZ’s MEPs Ivana Maletić, Željana Zovko, and Ivica Tolić, as well as Ruža Tomašić and Marijan Petir, who were elected on the HDZ list, participated in the activities of the European Christian Political Movement (ECPM).

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The mentioned media articles state, among other things, that the ECPM party has six representatives in the European Parliament who sit in the ranks of the European Conservatives and Reformists and are fighting against the European People’s Party, among other things, regarding the Istanbul Convention.