ZAGREB, January 28, 2020 - A candidate for the president of the ruling HDZ party, Miro Kovač, said on Monday that the HDZ was turning into a party "without any flavour or smell", adding that he would change that and make the party victorious again.

In an interview with RTL television, Kovač said that the HDZ was in a difficult position after the defeat in the recent presidential election and that he would change that once he was elected its leader.

He said that he was "very relaxed" regarding his possible election as HDZ president and the election of Ivan Penava and Davor Ivo Stier his deputy and HDZ vice-president respectively.

Kovač said that he had a strong team and that "every HDZ member wishing for a change and wishing to help the HDZ become a party with a flavour and smell" was welcome.

He did not give a straightforward answer regarding President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's position in that team, saying only that they had not discussed it.

"Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović's electoral defeat was not just her fault, she lost the elections also because of Plenković, who as the party's leader shares the responsibility for that," Kovac said.

He said that after the parliamentary elections, all parties except for the Social Democratic Party would be possible partners to the HDZ.

"The SDP is our main political rival, a grand coalition would be very bad for Croatian democracy," he said.

The HDZ leadership decided at a meeting last Friday to hold elections for the party president, deputy president and four vice-presidents on March 15.

The new leadership will be elected by direct ballot on a one-member-one-vote basis.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

Health Minister Kujundzic hasn't had the best time of it of late. His alleged dodgy dealings, incorrectly declared properties and magic houses and apartments and even land popping up from the island of Pag to his hometown of Ivanbegovina (near Imotski) have all surfaced in the media.

We recently wrote an article which posed the question of just what it would take, or indeed how much would need to be found out, before a Croatian politician would actually do the honourable thing and step down when caught with their fingers ''in the till'' as it were. Could Milan Kujundzic actually end up resigning? Or will it be the usual saga of removing him when the government is backed into too much of a tight corner?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of January, 2020, a government source confirmed to N1 that a late night meeting was held with Health Minister Kujundzic on Saturday night.

That same government source for N1 added that the decisions that follow in this case should show accountability and take into account the stability of the Croatian Government and HDZ.

Other sources from HDZ, however, claim that enfeebled Health Minister Kujundzic could step down as early as Monday.

"I perceive this in one way as a lynch atmosphere, but when it comes to politics, one should be prepared for such things as well.

I commend all of you journalists who will investigate me, and I invite all government bodies to investigate me on all grounds. I encourage you and others to investigate not only those who are public figures, but also many others about wages, what they had, what they got under communism, about privatisation, how much taxes, surtaxes and other kinds of contributions they paid. Do everything you need to do to me down to the last detail, and then do it to everyone else,'' Health Minister Kujundzic said on Friday at an extraordinary press conference regarding the attack of a journalist carried out by his own relative in front of his incorrectly declared house in Ivanbegovina.

Health Minister Kujundzic also held a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and the chance of his resignation, as he said at the time, didn't even come into it.

Make sure to follow our dedicated politics page for more.

ZAGREB, January 26, 2020 - Members of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party Miro Kovač, Ivan Penava and Davor Ivo Stier confirmed on Saturday that they would run in the forthcoming party elections as a team, with Kovač and Penava contesting for the party's president and deputy president.

Kovač is an HDZ parliamentarian and served as the foreign minister in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. Penava is the mayor of the city of Vukovar. Stier, a member of parliament and who served as the foreign minister after Kovač in the Andrej Plenković cabinet, will stand for a vice president of the party.

Addressing a news conference today in Zagreb, Kovač said that the HDZ needed now "a turnaround", and that this was the message of the electorate in the last two elections: the election for the European Parliament and the recent presidential election in which this ruling party "achieved unsatisfactory results".

He says the poor performance in the elections has been the outcome of the HDZ having "derailed from the tracks" which the HDZ founder Franjo Tuđman had laid down for the party.

Kovač said that nobody in the party had assumed the responsibility for the fact that the HDZ won only four seats in the EP. That situation then led to the HDZ's lack of success in the presidential elections, he added.

He also ruled out any grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

"We must not clash with our voters, members and sympathisers, or with people who have traditionally patriotic attitudes," he added.

Penava said that since the death of the first president and the HDZ founder Tuđman, the party had not had any efficient response to issues stemming from the Homeland War.

In this context he criticised coalitions with the HNS (Croatian People's Party) or the SDSS party representing the interests of ethnic Serbs rather than making partnership with "the parties that are naturally closer to us".

"We are the option for change," said Stier, who resigned as foreign minister in mid-2017 being unhappy that Prime Minister Plenković negotiated with the HNS to form a new parliamentary majority and government after the HDZ's cooperation with the MOST party failed. Stier had then expressed regret that the HDZ and MOST parted ways and had called then for new elections.

Stier said at today's news conference that the results of the two last elections were messages for the HDZ: one of them pertains to clientelism and the other to the political identity of the HDZ.

Stier sees the intra-party elections as the opportunity for the "confrontation of ideas" which can make the HDZ stronger.

He criticised the current HDZ leadership for having embarked on political confrontation with people pursuing conservative and sovereigntist policies.

The HDZ leadership decided at a meeting on Friday to hold elections for a president, a deputy president and four vice-presidents on March 15. The new leadership will be elected by direct ballot on a one-member-one-vote basis.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 19, 2020 - Prime Minister and HDZ party leader Andrej Plenković said at an event marking the 30th anniversary of the party's branch in Split on Saturday that his government had achieved its goals and that Croatia today was a better country than four years ago.

"Four years ago, when the party membership supported our mission to restore voters' trust in the strongest Croatian party, we had several clearly defined goals and we have achieved them all, despite attempts to weaken or destablise us," Plenković said, adding that Croatia today was a better country, with sound economic development.

He stressed that his government had shown how the dignity of the Homeland War should be protected. "Improving the status of Croatian defenders, the army and police is part of our policy," said Plenković, whose address was interrupted several times by party members' applause.

Stability of parliamentary majority important, protest movements present across Europe

Plenković underlined the importance of the stability of the parliamentary majority, noting that the government had stayed on its course.

"We have stayed on our course with those MPs and parties that have said that they share the goals of our government. We have even made some steps to develop cooperation with parties that do not share our worldview. I am aware that that is not easy, living with that and defending oneself from possible dissatisfaction, but there are no other reserve pools of MPs and votes," said Plenković while explaining the HDZ's coalition with the Croatian People's Party (HNS).

Commenting on current developments on the political scene in Croatia, he recalled that "protest movements are not present only in Croatia but all around Europe."

"They channel messages of some of our citizens who feel excluded and dissatisfied and who do not see the benefits of reforms," he said, adding that protest movements in Croatia were possibly prompted by crime and corruption at the local level and a wish for greater involvement of state institutions.

"Those tasks are ahead of us," he said.

The gathering in Split was also addressed by Split County head Blaženko Boban and Split Mayor Andro Krstulović Opara, who both expressed support for Plenković's policy.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 18, 2020 - Prime Minister and HDZ leader Andrej Plenković on Friday dismissed interpretations that the party under his helm "has gone too much to the left," reiterating that Croatia was enjoying political stability and economic growth thanks to the responsible policy of his government.

"I lead the party really transparently and, in my opinion, politically successfully as well," said Plenković in his comment on criticisms from hopefuls for the presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

He rejected claims by possible challengers that the party had moved towards the left of the political spectrum and added that the HDZ would hold party election conventions in due course.

Plenković recalled that the HDZ under his helm won the 2016 early parliamentary elections when he promised political stability.

"This is the principle we stick to. This is something we are implementing in cooperation with those protagonists with whom we can find the common ground for the government's agenda, and I refer to the parliamentary majority," said Plenković when asked by the press about the situation in the HDZ and the ruling majority.

The parliamentary majority is a precondition for the implementation of projects as well as for ensuring a sound economic growth and restoration of Croatia's investment ratings, Plenković said.

During the term of this government, Croatia has experienced a growth of three percent without taking on additional borrowing. Furthermore, a positive climate for entrepreneurs to do business is being crated, and as a result, growth is being generated and new jobs created, Plenković said adding that pension allowances and monthly salaries are on the rise, demographic revival measures have been adopted and the country's international position is being reinforced.

Dismissing the criticism about going too much to the left, Plenković called on his critics to specify their concrete objections.

As for the objections from some right-wing circles about the government's support for the Marrakech Compact and the Istanbul Convention, he recalled that the adoption of the convention was also part of the agenda of the then HDZ presidential candidate Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović in the 2014 presidential race, which means that this was part of the HDZ programme also before he took helm of the HDZ.

He pointed out that the the problem with the "disgruntled right-wing" actors had arisen when Nina Obuljen Korzinek became culture minister in 2016 after this position had been filled by Zlatko Hasanbegovic. "If you take a closer look, you'll see that no objections were made before that personnel decision. There's no ideology here, it's a made-up story."

Considering criticism about the HDZ forming a coalition with the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Plenković described the HNS as a liberal and people's party and said that their cooperation should be looked at through their programmes.

"Can the CDU and the CSU in Germany cooperate with the Liberals? I guess they can. Can we do that here? Yes, we can. Who else are we supposed to cooperate with? Who else is left? Do they want us to go with the SDP? Let them be a bit more specific." the HDZ chief said.

He also recalled that the cooperation with the HNS was established after "the worst possible disloyal move by the MOST(party)" when the MOST ministers voted for a no confidence motion against their colleague in the government, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Plenković said.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 13, 2020 - Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) officials Darko Horvat, who serves as Economy Minister, and Željko Reiner,a deputy parliament speaker, said on Monday that an opinion poll that gives the opposition Social Democrats (SDP) a lead in popularity ratings in January was the reflection of the outcome of the recent presidential runoff.

"What is happening now is a reflection of the recent election. The outwitting between the SDP and the HDZ will take one or two weeks and then everything will go back to normal, and the HDZ will again be the strongest political option in Croatia," Horvat told the press in his comment on the CRO Demoskop survey about the approval ratings of the ruling HDZ and the SDP in January, when the opposition party took the lead for the first time in four years.

In the second round of the election on 5 January, the incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, nominated by the HDZ for her second term, was defeated by challenger Zoran Milanović, the candidate of the SDP and a few more left wing opposition parties.

Reiner said in his comment that the latest outcome of the approval ratings mirrored the situation in the wake of the elections rather than the real balance of power between the HDZ and the SDP.

"Let's wait for a month or two to see what things will look like," Reiner said.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 11, 2020 - Prime Minister and HDZ party leader Andrej Plenković said in an interview with the Večernji List daily issue of Saturday that he was confident his party would win the next parliamentary election owing to its unity and the government's results, and that his government would continue to lead Croatia in the right direction.

He also announced that all the necessary decisions, including a decision on calling intraparty elections, would be made in time, adding that this year parliamentary elections would be held as well and that Croatia was now chairing the EU.

Plenković went on to say that anyone who believed that they could contribute to the party was welcome to run for HDZ president and that the winner would be decided by the party membership.

He added that his ambition, when he took over the leadership of the HDZ, had been to put his experience at the service of development of all parts of Croatia and the country's greater visibility in the world.

The government wants to present its achievements to the public in a more detailed and more convincing manner, Plenković said, adding that now that the government's results in all fields were much better than before, primarily for Croatian citizens, those achievements were not sufficiently valued.

"It is our task to enable the HDZ to stay, after the elections, the strongest and winning party, and I'm confident that we will achieve that goal," he said, adding that in the present election system, except in the case of large pre-election coalitions, a single party was not likely to win more than 76 parliamentary seats and that the HDZ would seek partners with a similar platform and worldview.

In that context, he recalled that the HDZ's decision of 2016 to choose as its partners MOST, all representatives of ethnic minorities and several deputies who had supported the HDZ, had been natural and logical.

He noted that the reason for the breakup of the coalition with MOST had been their disloyal decision not to support Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, who had been a member of a previous coalition government together with MOST.

Commenting on presidential candidate Miroslav Škoro, who in the first round of the recent presidential election came in third, Plenković said that Škoro was a former HDZ member of parliament and consul-general to Pecs and that he had never seen any signs of any divergence between Škoro's worldview and identity and the HDZ's basic principles and values.

Plenković added, however, that while listening to his recent speeches, he noticed that Škoro had taken over the rhetoric of the MOST party and that he equated the HDZ with the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

"That cannot be his own theory. I don't think he is sincere. I have had the feeling the whole time that he is stating somebody else's agenda. Unlike him, I speak my mind and stand by my party programme," said Plenković.

President-elect Zoran Milanović deceived voters and HDZ members back in the 2016 election campaign by saying that the HDZ had leaned to the left, and he did it also in the recent campaign for presidential elections, claimed the HDZ leader.

He added that Milanović had falsely accused him of "having a worse opinion of (Franjo) Tuđman than he does", noting that he had a very high opinion of Tuđman and describing Milanović's claim as "a perfidious deceit... that has caused huge political damage."

Plenković said that the elements used to justify the HDZ's alleged leaning to the left were the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (Marrakesh Treaty) and the ratification of the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention), whereby, he said, his government wanted to strengthen the mechanisms for the prevention of violence against women and domestic violence.

The government also adopted an interpretative statement saying that the Istanbul Convention "in no way introduces gender ideology, which we, too, oppose, into the Croatian legal order," said Plenković.

As for his statement that the cohabitation with President-elect Milanović would be tough, he explained that it meant cohabitation in line with the Constitution between two significantly different political camps.

As for the political future of outgoing President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, PM Plenković said that he was confident that she would make the best possible decision about her future political and professional career, thanking her for everything she had done for the country, notably on the foreign policy front.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 8, 2020 - Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday evening that the direction taken by the party had been supported "in unison" by the presidency and the national committee during their four-hour meeting in Zagreb at which they discussed the presidential runoff outcome.

In Sunday's second round of the election, the incumbent president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, nominated by the ruling HDZ for her second term, was defeated by challenger Zoran Milanović, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a few more opposition left parties.

"We must see the reasons for this result. We gave (her) a hundred percent support," Plenković said after the meeting of the HDZ leadership.

Answering questions from the press, Plenković said that he did not feel his responsibility for Grabar-Kitarović's defeat.

Plenković said that he had given her full support during her term as the head of state and since the start of the term of his cabinet.

He underscored that the president's agenda for the second term was supported by the party and the HDZ backed her during the campaign in the run-up to the elections.

In the coming days, county branches of the HDZ are expected to make an analysis of the reasons for differences in Grabar-Kitarović's approval ratings now and five years before when she ran for the presidency for the first time.

Plenković said that more meetings would be held in the coming days so as to see which moves to make.

As for the policy pursued by the current leadership of the HDZ, Plenković said that during the joint meeting of the presidency and the national committee, the direction taken by the party and moves on the political, economic, social and foreign affairs fronts had been unanimously supported.

Asked by the press about criticism made by parliamentarians Miro Kovač and Davor ivo Stier about the course taken by the party leadership, Plenković said that he did not know at this moment what Stier and Kovač thought and explained that they had not been at the meeting as they were not members either of the presidency or the national committee.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 7, 2020 - Parliament Speaker and HDZ secretary-general Gordan Jandroković confirmed on Tuesday that the party leadership would meet on Tuesday afternoon to analyse reasons for the defeat in the January 5 presidential runoff, noting that "unlike the meeting of (today's) parliamentary Presidency, that meeting will not be calm."

"We will analyse what was crucial for the defeat but we will first discuss it at the session of the HDZ Presidency and then in public," Jandroković told reporters after a brief session of the Parliament's Presidency.

Asked if there would be intraparty sanctions over wrong moves during Grabar-Kitarović's campaign, he said that that would definitely be discussed today but that it would not be fair of him to announce what would happen before the session.

"I expect to hear different opinions, we heard them during the campaign as well and when the election result was announced, and I expect us to discuss everything relevant for the HDZ in a democratic atmosphere," said Jandroković.

He explained the meaning of his statement that the HDZ had pursued a wrong policy in the second round of the elections by going too much to the right.

"What I meant was that the campaign was such that it also motivated the voters of our political rival," said Jandroković.

He said that he was not afraid that political ambitions within the HDZ could result in surprises already during a vote on confidence in Science and Education Minister Blaženka Divjak.

"I think that the parliament will complete its term," he said, adding that the HDZ was prepared for any possible scenario "if a coalition partner or any individual should have their own ideas or plans."

"We are prepared for elections but it seems that there is an understanding among all political protagonists that Croatia should complete its chairmanship of the EU, after which parliamentary elections will be held anyway. But I'm not ruling out any scenario," said Jandroković.

He would not answer explicitly if parliamentary elections taking place before elections in the HDZ was more convenient for the HDZ.

"The HDZ has a statute, we have to comply with it and political decisions will be made by the competent party bodies," he said.

Jandroković believes that there will be no problems in cooperation with the newly-elected president of the republic, Zoran Milanović, regardless of the strong words that could be heard during the campaign.

"The campaign is one thing, we have the obligation to cooperate in line with the Constitution and laws. In that sense, personal relations are irrelevant, we have to perform the duties we were elected to perform in a responsible way and I don't think there will be any problems in that regard."

Jandroković also confirmed that he had been informed about the withdrawal of Croatian soldiers from Iraq, saying that he supported the decision but that it was within the remit of other state institutions.

More HDZ can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, January 7, 2020 - Commenting on the defeat of his HDZ party's presidential candidate Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and turmoil in the ruling party, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday that party bodies would analyse what had happened in the presidential election, dismissing as absolute nonsense accusations against him coming from the far right.

Plenković, who is on an official visit to France, said that many people had done their best to prevent the HDZ from repeating its success of five years ago.

"We will have to open some topics that have been hanging in the air for quite a while. Since the very first moment in 2016, the government and I have been targeted by lies, defamation and labelling, none of which is true," Plenković said in Paris, where on Tuesday he will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.

He agreed with HDZ secretary-general Gordan Jandroković's statement that the campaign of the HDZ's candidate was more right than the party's policy, saying that Jandroković's statement was not hasty.

Plenković stressed that some of the labels against him were introduced in the public sphere by President-elect Zoran Milanović, "after which they were exploited by the far right via its media outlets and social networks."

He said the claims that the HDZ had moved too much to the centre or too much to the left under his leadership were absolute nonsense.

Plenković said that he would cooperate, in line with the Constitution, with President-elect Milanovic, whom he "phoned briefly and congratulated as a matter of courtesy".

"We will try to find a common language on topics that require our cooperation as well as on national interests, and as to what was said during the campaign, if I were to go back to that, we would not cooperate very much," said Plenković.

He said that the HDZ would analyse what had happened in the presidential election and why Grabar-Kitarović did not repeat her success of five years ago.

"There were many people who did their best to prevent that. Legitimate political opponents are one thing, but those who had supported the president five years ago and now did not, are another. I don't know what the problem is, Croatia today is definitely a much better country than it was five years ago," Plenković said.

Asked if parliamentary elections could be held before elections in the HDZ, Plenković said: "We are not at that stage yet."

As for the HDZ's coalition with the Croatian People's Party (HNS) or the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), which some hold against him, Plenković wondered why nobody had anything against the coalition with the SDSS some 15 years ago, when a deputy prime minister was from that party.

"How can this be a problem at a time when Croatia is a member of the EU, which it chairs, when it is a member of NATO, when we are self-confident, after we have won a war? There are no problems, we are dealing with the remnants of Croatia's economic transition and we are including minorities in that process, which is normal in any country."

He dismissed a reporter's remark that the reason might be that then Prime Minister Ivo Sanader had greater authority in the HDZ than he has.

"No, the reason is that the far right outside the HDZ was weaker. It has grown stronger since, and that did not happen because of me. Somebody else has introduced it into mainstream politics, (far-right politicians) have grown fond of governing and decision-making and when they are not able to do so, they pursue a different policy. That's the point and that topic should be opened and we will open it already tomorrow," Plenković said, adding that nobody would topple him and that the HDZ would hold intra-party elections at which everyone would be able to run for party president.

"Whoever wins will be leading the HDZ," he said.

Plenković also said there was good reason to believe that France's position on EU enlargement, after that country last October blocked the opening of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, would evolve.

He said that he would discuss that topic at his talks with Macron on Tuesday, during which he would present the main aspects of Croatia's EU presidency.

More HDZ news can be found in the Politics section.