ZAGREB, 5 Feb 2022 - The former leader of the Istria Democratic Party (IDS) and current Istria County prefect, Boris Miletić, issued a statement after his resignation from the party on Saturday, saying that the IDS had for years been "a symbol of progressive and liberal policies, a symbol of resistance to primitivism."

"We have built a progressive community in a country that does not have much to boast about. Unfortunately, the IDS is now taking a different direction, and obviously I have been recognised by the new leadership as the biggest obstacle to this political turnaround," Miletić said.

He said that no one had raised any of the reasons he was now being disciplined for at the party's extraordinary meeting last September when his report was adopted with one abstention.

"When I took political responsibility for the election results and when we were supposed to discuss it, no one said a word, like many times before that," Miletić said, noting that while he had served as IDS president all decisions had been adopted by the party presidency and not in an autocratic manner as claimed by the new leadership.

He said that today he had tendered his resignation from the IDS after four victories in local elections, three terms in the national parliament, after winning seats in the European Parliament in two elections and after nearly eight years at the helm of the IDS which throughout that time was the strongest Croatian regional party. 

Miletić said that with his resignation, after 29 years and for the first time since counties were established "the IDS has lost Istria County." "The new IDS president now has a chance to show freely what he knows and what he can do."

Meanwhile, Pula mayor Filip Zoričić demanded an early election in Istria County, calling on the IDS and Miletić "not to hold Istria as their hostage".

He said that as the mayor of the largest city in Istria he wanted the regional government to be stable and functioning regardless of which political group had a majority.

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ZAGREB, 5 Feb 2022 - The former leader of the Istria Democratic Party (IDS) and current Istria County prefect, Boris Miletić, resigned from the party on Saturday after the new leadership launched disciplinary action against him for violating the party's code of ethics and statute.

"I regret this because of everything Miletić did as the party president and mayor of Pula. I think this is a hasty decision, and what it means in light of his position as county prefect, we will see and discuss within the party," new IDS president Dalibor Paus said.

Paus said that in light of the latest development the disciplinary action against Miletić had been suspended.

He would not say why exactly such action had been launched. "The IDS does not want to wash its dirty linen in public and bother the public with it, because there are much more important matters for Istria it should be dealing with."

Miletić joined the IDS in 1996.

ZAGREB, 5 Feb 2022 - The presidency of the Istria Democratic Party (IDS) has launched disciplinary action against its former leader, Istria County Prefect Boris Miletić, for violating the party's code of ethics and statute.

In a statement from its meeting in Pula on Friday night, the new IDS leadership said that Miletić had taken some decisions "in an autocratic manner, without dialogue and without the knowledge and consent of the party's governing bodies."

The presidency discussed Miletić's responsibility for the result of the May 2021 local election, in which the IDS lost the confidence of a portion of its voters. It said that "no individual, no matter how deserving they may be, can come before the interests of Istrians and the IDS."

Miletić later said that he regretted s to see what was going on in his own party. "I am proud of everything that we have done in all these years and I will always be," he said and added: " I will never give in under pressure from individuals and different interests to the detriment of Istrians."

"The next move is mine," Miletić said.. 

Unofficially, 15 members of the IDS presidency voted in favour of disciplinary action and one abstained from the vote.

ZAGREB, 11 Sept, 2021 - The head of Barban Municipality, Dalibor Paus, is the new president of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS), it was decided at the parliamentary party's 34th election assembly in Poreč on Saturday.

Paus said the "IDS is entering a new development phase today" during which it would undergo restructuring and introduce a new management model based on transparency and excellence, with the goal to make Istria County even stronger and more developed.

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ZAGREB, 13 July, 2021 - Some opposition parties claimed on Tuesday that the new waste management law will result in higher bills for citizens and that this will in particular affect lessors and small entrepreneurs.

The entire waste management system is based on waste management centres which are very expensive and that will be evident once citizens receive their new bills, said MP Sanja Udović (SDP).

She claimed that in those areas where these centres have been established, citizens can expect their bills to increase by 100 percent. "We, in Primorje Gorski Kotar County can soon expect the end price to go up, that means the price citizens pay will increase by some 30 to 40 percent," she said.

MP Marin Lerotić (IDS) underscored that the new bill doesn't go in favour of citizens nor lessors or small businesses who have been categorised as non-households and will pay a higher price.

"Shopping centres will pay the same, minimal service, as will shoemakers, or camp sites for up to 10,000 people will pay the same as a family-owned camp site with a capacity of up to 12 people. Hotels with a capacity of 100 rooms will pay the same price as a lessor of a flat," warned Lerotić.

MP Josip Borić (HDZ) explained that the government was providing a framework for prices to be defined by the local government.

"The opportunity exists to reduce the price for those who need to be rewarded. It contains criteria that allow that reduction for enterprises to certain household members, you can make them up yourself and include them in the price list," he said.

Local government officials have to realise that their role in waste management will be more complex, constructive, creative and more responsible, state-secretary in the Economy Ministry, Mile Horvat said.

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ZAGREB, 4 June 2021 - Both the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) have lodged objections regarding the ballot counting in the 30 May election for Istrian county prefect and are now waiting for the response from the State Election Commission (DIP), Jutarnji List daily said on Friday.

According to the results from DIP, SDP candidate Danijel Ferić was defeated  by IDS leader Boris Miletić by a margin of only 54 votes, which prompted the SDP to request a ballot recount at 12 polling stations. The SDP has said that they they have found 41 more ballots in favour of Ferić which were declared invalid. That is why they lodged an objection to DIP to recount all ballots and to give its opinion on the situation.

"The State Election Commission has 48 hours to tell us whether it will take our objection into consideration. (...) We would like to review the election materials in another 29 constituencies. Both us and the IDS are in a hurry to hear whether our objection will be accepted or not. We also want to know who will recount the ballots," said Sanja Radolović of the SDP.

She added that they had found various irregularities and that ballots for Danijel Ferić were added to the pile for Boris Miletić and vice versa.

The IDS said that they had lodged an objection with valid arguments, but they do not want to go into detail because, they say, they do not want to put pressure on electoral bodies, Jutarnji List reported.

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ZAGREB, 11 May, 2021 - Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) secretary-general Giovanni Sponza and MP Katarina Nemet on Tuesday pointed to a problem concerning ballots that makes it more difficult for members of the Italian minority to exercise their additional right in the 16 May local election.

Sponza said that in towns and municipalities where this is so regulated, as well as at the county level, deputy heads from the Italian minority are elected on separate slates, which, he said "is a novelty of the coming election because until now they were elected on the main slate together with mayoral candidates."

"In addition to being able to vote for candidates for municipal heads, mayors and the county head, as well as for municipal and town councils and the county assembly, members of the Italian ethnic community also have the right and can vote for their own candidates on a separate slate," said Sponza.

However, he added, in line with instructions from the State Election Commission, members of electoral committees do not have the obligation to offer a ballot with nominations for deputy heads from the Italian ethnic community but rather members of the Italian community have to ask for it themselves.

The problem is that a large number of members of the Italian ethnic community are not aware of that possibility, Sponza said, noting that stakeholders who set rules should make an effort to inform voters of their legal rights and possibilities and that by making voters ask for a ballot on their own, they are discriminating against them.

"We consider that unfair because all citizens should be equal in the election process," said the IDS official, adding that he wanted "to believe that this approach has nothing to do with the coming census in Croatia."  

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ZAGREB, June 26, 2020 - Member of European Parliament Valter Flego of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) has said that a key point in the IDS's platform for the July 5 parliamentary election is the digitisation and efficiency of the public administration system and that Croatia is at the bottom of the EU ladder for digitisation.

"Unfortunately, according to the latest survey of economic and social digitisation for 2020, Croatia is at the very bottom in the European Union for digitised public services, whereas Pula, for example, is an absolute champion in digitisation in Croatia," Flego underlined.

Noting that Europe is offering concrete help through EU funds and that Croatia must not let that opportunity pass by, Flego stressed that Croatia has a realistic opportunity to be at the very top in this field even though it has fallen to the very bottom due to the consequences of the government's negligence and ignorance when it comes to innovations, science, and digitisation.

"The Digital Europe programme has more than €8 billion at its disposal and it is up to us to absorb as much of those funds as possible. That is why it is exceptionally important to do that together with national, regional and local government units and that is why it is exceptionally important to know who will be sitting in the Sabor, which needs to adopt a series of laws towards that goal," concluded Flego.

ZAGREB, June 6, 2020 - The leadership of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS)  on Friday decided to join the "Restart" opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the upcoming parliamentary elections which Croatia will hold on 5 July.

The IDS leadership said that the decision was made after a series of negotiations with the SDP which accepted all the conditions set by this regional party.

One of the conditions was that any future territorial reorganization of Croatia would preserve the autonomous status of Istria as a county.

Also, the IDS insisted on having its four candidates on the Restart slate for the constituency No. 8.

In the last parliament, the IDS parliamentary club had four lawmakers: three of whom were IDS members plus independent deputy Furio Radin as the representative of the ethnic Italian minority.

The IDS leader Boris Miletic, who is the mayor of the City of Pula, said after the leadership's meeting that he was not among those four candidates, explaining that now when the county was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, his duty would be to "remain here in Istria." 

ZAGREB, February 15, 2020 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Davor Bernardić said on Saturday there was big potential for cooperation with the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS) in the next parliamentary election, adding that the SDP would "lead the winning coalition."

"There is potential for cooperation with the IDS because we cooperated well in the past. But we are talking with all parties with which we share the same world view, and what is certain is that the SDP will lead the winning coalition which will bring much needed change in our country," Bernardić said in Pazin, where he attended a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the IDS.

He added that the SDP was already talking with parties with which it shared the values of freedom, solidarity, anti-fascism and anti-corruption. "We will strongly insist on our programme to fight corruption and for judicial reform."

IDS president Boris Miletić said the successes of Istria County and the IDS surpassed the party and that they reflected the spirit of the local people. He said the IDS was a regional "avant-garde (party) different from others."

"We secured bilingualism, talked about a faraway Europe and advocated the then unpopular notions of anti-fascism, coexistence, multi-ethnicity and multi-culturalism," he said, adding that the IDS was alone in fighting for those values in the 1990s, yet now they are part of Croatia's legislation.

The ceremony was attended, among others, by President-elect Zoran Milanović, the leaders of the parties the IDS cooperates with as part of the Amsterdam Coalition, and Dutch MEP Hans van Baalen, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe to which the IDS belongs.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.