Bernardić Without Illusions About Improving the Situation in SDP

The SDP began a session of the Main Board on Saturday, discussing the crisis in the party that culminated in a letter from 90 dissatisfied members, including 23 parliamentary representatives, asking President Davor Bernardić to resign for the good of the party.

Unlike previous practices, journalists were for the first time unable to listen to Bernardić’s opening speech before the Main Board. However, according to unofficial information, it is learned that in addressing the members of the GO, Bernardić called on SDP members for unity and stated that they should look up to the ‘Vatreni’ and play for SDP based on the principle of ‘all for one, one for all.’ While speaking, he showed chronological journalistic texts and said that he ‘has no illusions that the situation can improve after this.’ However, he did not offer an exit from the crisis situation.

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He stated that he is not bothered by the letters sent to him or the demands for his resignation, but rather by the way it was presented in the media and how it goes against the Statute. Bernardić reportedly said that individuals in the discussion, particularly parliamentary representatives, are working against SDP by announcing the possibility of a grand coalition with HDZ, not attending the Parliament and party body meetings, supporting the new state attorney who ‘halted the investigation in Agrokor,’ and even praising Plenković’s moves.

Bernardić also said that he is ‘hurt by the hypocrisy of comrades when former president Zoran Milanović spoke about his grandfather being a Ustaša,’ and believes they would crucify him if he sang Čavoglave like some or if he were a member of HDZ like Siniša Hajdaš Dončić. He reminded of the principles of action established by Ivica Račan and stated that his message is: ‘Let us respect ourselves, the bodies and decisions we have voted for, let us respect SDP and let us respect social democracy.’

Discontent Over Requested Suspensions

After his speech, Main Board member Tomislav Zrinski requested a two-year suspension from all party functions for members of the Presidency who have publicly criticized, and his request caused discontent. Gordan Maras asked Bernardić why he did not request their sanctioning instead of Zrinski, while Ranko Ostojić requested to be included on the list of those the party leadership wants to sanction.

At the beginning of the session, Main Board President Erik Fabijanić reported that he received a request to sanction those members of the Presidency who violated the Statute by speaking publicly, which was signed by 54 members of the Main Board, but he refused to read the names of the signatories and instead invited those interested to look at the request and signatures. According to unofficial information, the suspension from party duties, or expulsion from the Presidency, would relate to Peđa Grbin, Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, Vedran Babić, and Mihael Zmajlović. This notification also resulted in discontent among some attendees.

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Upon arriving at the session, Željko Jovanović stated that it is clear to everyone that the party is not doing well, that the party is not in crisis but is in a leadership crisis, and that no sanctions are acceptable because those who spoke openly are much more valuable than those who buried their heads in the sand and pretend not to see the state SDP is in. I do not expect any sanctions to be imposed because any sanctions would mean a path to a split in SDP, Jovanović stated.

Nenad Stazić also does not expect sanctions, and if there are any, he added, then we will see what happens next. This is the last chance to prevent that from happening and for those who prepared these suspensions to withdraw from it, Stazić believes.

Sabina Glasovac hopes that suspensions will not occur because that is not the solution to SDP’s problems. Today we should seek solutions, not deepen problems, she assessed. Regardless of the suspension, the GO will make a decision and take responsibility, not only for that decision but also for the future of SDP, which will certainly be related to the decision made today, Glasovac stated.

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Gordan Maras expects an open discussion. We must not allow social democracy in Croatia and its members, especially the most important ones, the citizens of Croatia, to suffer because of one, five, or ten individuals. I expect that today we will finally sit down and talk openly, become the party I joined in 1997 and the reason I joined it, that is what I want and hope to achieve, Maras said, emphasizing that he is against suspensions.

I am against sanctioning anyone because that will not solve the problem of SDP as it is now, and I know that it is not in the two interviews that people gave on TV, he noted, announcing that he will fight for SDP.

Of the 99 members of the Main Board, which was reduced from 103 after the organizations of Vukovar-Srijem and Požega-Slavonia counties were dissolved, 91 members of the Main Board were verified at the session. SDP members who occasionally leave the hall describe the situation as tense and say that the party is divided in half and believe that the session will last a long time.