ZAGREB, March 22, 2018 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said on Thursday that his party would vote for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention despite the accompanying interpretive statement, which he described as "a useless piece of paper".
Even though he previously said that the SDP would not ratify the Convention if it was to be accompanied by any reservations, Bernardić told a news conference the party would ratify the document because the interpretive statement in no way changed the text of the Convention.
"The statement... adopted by the government to accompany the Convention is a useless piece of paper, a pamphlet without any significance and a desperate attempt whose sole purpose is to restore the lost trust of a part of HDZ voters and party members who have turned their back on the HDZ leadership," said Bernardić.
In the past few days, the SDP had stressed that it would not vote for the Convention if the ruling coalition added any formulation or statement to accompany it.
