ZAGREB, 22 May 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Saturday that his HDZ party was a centre-right, state-building, patriotic, people's, Christian democratic party, calling on voters to vote in the second round of local elections in Zagreb on 30 May according to their conscience.
"The party's position has not changed... we know our values and platform. We respect our voters and recommend that they vote according to their conscience in the runoff," Plenković said during a visit to Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
Asked which of the two candidates for the Zagreb mayor, Tomislav Tomašević or Miroslav Škoro, would be easier to cooperate with, Plenković said that he respected voters' will.
"Whoever wins voters' trust is a collocutor to me as the prime minister. We have been pursuing a policy of balanced regional development in all parts of Croatia. It was never a problem for me to talk to representatives who are in the opposition at the national level and are in power in some part of the country. The same will apply to Zagreb," he said.
Vaccination as a way to achieve a better tourist season
Asked if current epidemiological restrictions could be relaxed sooner, that is on 27 May, as demanded by restaurant and bar owners, Plenković said that the epidemiological situation would be discussed in the coming week.
"The figures are very, very good. Compared to the week before, there are fewer infections, the number of people who have got vaccinated is growing, and vaccination provides protection against the worst outcomes. We must make decisions that will help maintain the current good trends and not jeopardise the tourist season," he said.
Plenković recalled that of the epidemiological restrictions, the only ones to remain in force were bans on events and gatherings of more than 25 people, on stay in indoor areas of restaurants and bars, and on indoor sport activities. As for everything else, we have been living more or less normally while other countries have had major restrictions, Plenković said.
Speaking of the tourist season, he said that it was up to Croatia to create conditions, through the vaccination of tourism workers and other workers in the services sector, that will help visitors stay safe.
Germany's decision very good, first wave of tourists in July
Germany has taken Croatia off the red list of countries with a high risk of coronavirus, and as of midnight on Sunday, Croatia will no longer be considered a high-risk but a risk region.
Commenting on this, Plenković said that the decision was good because Germany was one of Croatia's biggest tourist markets.
He noted that he had been in touch with state officials from other countries whose citizens could hardly wait to visit Croatia again and that the first bigger tourist wave was expected in July.
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