ZAGREB, March 13, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday evening that the process of ratification of the Istanbul Convention would continue, even though some members of the Presidency and National Council of his HDZ party have different views on the matter.
"The general idea to proceed with ratification is supported by a vast majority, but several colleagues have different views. This is a normal procedure in the HDZ and they all continue to be members of the party. There has been no dramatic turbulence, but we may be differing in our approach to certain sensitive issues," Plenković said after a four-hour meeting of the HDZ Presidency and National Council at which the Istanbul Convention was one of the topics discussed.
He said that the HDZ would step up communication with the public about the actual contents of the convention and would discuss it with its coalition partners and other parliamentary parties to secure as much support for it as possible.
Plenković said that he had not heard from any of the Presidency and National Council members who have expressed their reservations about the convention or are against it that any aspect of any article of the convention might be problematic to them. He added that all the issues raised during the public consultation could be diminished through detailed discussion and explanation of the ratification bill.
Plenković said that he and the Minister of Demography, Family, Youth and Social Policy Nada Murganić explained to the Presidency and National Council members the entire process surrounding the convention in the last ten years and removed certain doubts and fears among some of the members that this convention was promoting the gender ideology.
Plenković also noted that the incorporation of the Istanbul Convention into Croatian law would not imply any legal obligation, for example to recognise same-sex marriages.
Asked by the press to comment on an open letter by HDZ political secretary Davor Ivo Stier in which he opposed ratification of the Istanbul Convention, Plenković said that Stier had the right to express his view.
