Vlaho Orepić is in the war of words with the MOST leadership.
Former Interior Minister Vlaho Orepić, who on Tuesday announced that he would leave the MOST Parliamentary Group, said on Wednesday he was sorry that MOST president and former Speaker of Parliament Božo Petrov and MOST’s Member of Parliament Nikola Grmoja were persisting in not taking concrete steps in the direction of implementing necessary changes within MOST, which they are undoubtedly aware of, together with all other members of the party presidency, the parliamentary group and the party main committee, reports Novi List on December 13, 2017.
“The communication based on astonishment and linking my decision to leave the parliamentary group with, as they describe them, my desires, passions and ambitions, represents an incorrect approach to this whole event. I do not want to participate in ‘popular’ political communication, on which they unfortunately still insist, and which consists of the superficiality and personal attacks of the other side,” Orepić wrote on his Facebook page. He pointed out that responsible policies cannot be based on accidental, and especially not on inaccurate insider information which aim to discredit people personally. Anyway, Orepić continued, the resetting of MOST to its initial position is a necessity, and my decision has been motivated only and exclusively by this need.
Orepić also said that allegations about some sort of conspiracy or his personal goals were just an escape from the responsibility of those who make such claims. “I will never betray people who have given me their trust, and my decision follows that determination,” wrote Orepić on Facebook.
MOST president Božo Petrov said yesterday that he did not understand Orepić's motives for leaving the party’s parliamentary group. “If there was ever a place where he could realise his desires, passions and ambitions, then MOST was that place. He was our minister,” said Petrov.
MOST political secretary Nikola Grmoja expressed his astonishment with Orepić's decision. “As for activities within MOST, everybody can see there is complete freedom and that members of Parliament who have come from other parties are free to express their opinion. Therefore, I do not see any problem; this is quite strange,” he said.
Orepić announced yesterday that he had decided to leave the MOST Parliamentary Group, pointing out that the politics of conflict which the party was leading were “narrowing the space for realising the idea of MOST itself.” “MOST as it now exists, which insists on the politics of conflict when it comes to outward action and on not solving problems within itself, is narrowing the space and mechanisms for realising the idea of MOST itself,” he said.
Commenting on the split in MOST, SDP president Davor Bernardić said on Wednesday that Orepić could possibly join SDP. “We are an open party, everyone can join us, especially people who will support us in our programme,” Bernardić said. The SDP president added that everyone was welcomed to the party if they supported the minimum wage growth, stopping the emigration of young people, the implementation of the educational reform and combating poverty. Asked whether he personally contacted Orepić, he replied that he was in regular contact with him, as well as with many other MPs.
Orepić became Interior Minister in January 2016 in the HDZ-MOST coalition government led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. In October 2016, he was reappointed to the post in the second HDZ-MOST government led by new Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. After the ruling coalition collapsed in April this year, Orepić was dismissed by the Prime Minister, together with other MOST’s ministers.
