ZAGREB, April 4, 2020 - The Croatian Pensioners' Union (SUH) on Friday most strongly condemned member of parliament Ivan Pernar for making statements against elderly persons in the context of the coronavirus epidemic.

The union says that the MP has called for lifting restrictions that were imposed to curb the spread of the disease, explaining that elderly people have to die of something anyway.

SUH notes that Pernar has been conducting an opinion poll about the coronavirus pandemic on his Facebook wall, claiming that restrictions introduced to help fight the coronavirus have economically destroyed the country and its citizens and stripped young people of their basic human rights and freedoms.

Pernar also says that around 500,000 people die of the flu worldwide every year and that all of them were more or less close to death and would have died a few days, weeks or months later if they had not contracted the flu, SUH says, describing Pernar as an exhibitionist who discriminates against the elderly and exerts influence on young people whose health, too, is threatened by the coronavirus, and calling on the public to condemn his statements as hate speech.

More news about Ivan Pernar can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 6, 2019 – Živi Zid parliamentary deputy Ivan Pernar on Thursday confirmed that he and his colleague Bramimir Bunjac would leave this Opposition party because of the dictatorship of party leader Ivan Sinčić's wife Vladimira Palfi, who is also a vice-president of this party.

Pernar said that he was considering the establishment of a new political party as well as of returning to the non-parliamentary "Abeceda Demokracije" party whose member he used to be.

Pernar dismissed allegations that his and Bunjac's decisions were motivated by the lucrative term of a member of the European Parliament, insisting that they did not want to endure Palfi's tyranny and lies.

He declined to confirm or dismiss allegations by former Živi Zid member Hrvoje Runtić, who two years ago left Živi Zid, citing suspicious donations to the party, and said that the real reason for Runtić's departure was Palfi's behaviour.

After Pernar and Bunjac earlier in the day demanded that Palfi step down or they would leave the party, Sinčić called for dialogue and said that ultimatums were not the way to solve the problems and that he planned to hold a series of intra-party meetings in the coming days.

Živi Zid seems to have started falling apart after the European Parliament elections in which it won a seat. On Tuesday, Sinčić said that MP Bunjac had been suspended for not sticking to the party's strategy in the recent European elections and to the agreement than none of the party's MPs would go to the European Parliament.

In the meantime, a video has appeared showing Živi Zid officials meeting in a flat, with Bunjac nearly getting into a fight with party member Dominik Vuletić. The bone of contention seemed to be who would fill the sole seat in the European Parliament the party has won.

Sinčić insisted that the idea had been to rotate five low-profile party members in the EP, but that since the deal was thwarted, they decided that he (Sinčić) would go to the EP and stay there until the next parliamentary election in Croatia.

Pernar criticised the release of the video as an attempt to besmirch Bunjac's reputation, while Sinčić accused Pernar and Bunjac of fame-seeking, and announced intra-party elections within the next three months.

Bunjac, who on Tuesday was suspended from the party, told reporters on Wednesday that over the past year, Živi Zid had become the property of one person, "and that person is Vladimira Palfi."

More Živi Zid news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, June 5, 2019 - One of the three parliamentary deputies of Živi Zid, Ivan Pernar, said on Wednesday that he would leave this Opposition party if his colleague Branimir Bunjac was ousted.

Pernar's statement ensued after party leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Tuesday said that MP Bunjac had been suspended for not sticking to the party's strategy in the recent European elections and to the agreement than none of the party's MPs would go to the European Parliament.

Pernar today appealed for a reasonable solution to the intra-party crisis, and underscored that he was against seeking solutions through media. "I think that that is counterproductive. I condemn those who organised yesterday's news conference in Zrinjevac Park to vilify Bunjac," Pernar told the press in the parliament.

Asked by reporters whether this would usher in the collapse of Živi Zid, Pernar said that it did not depend on him.

He went on to say that only one person could decide on it, alluding to Sinčić's wife, Vladimira Palfi, whom he previously accused of pulling all the strings in the party. Today, however, Pernar stopped short of naming her explicitly.

He reiterated that he would not leave the party as long as Bunjac was one of the party's parliamentary deputies.

As soon as Bunjac is removed from the parliament, I will leave the party, he said.

In the meantime, a video has appeared about Živi Zid officials meeting in a flat, with Bunjac nearly getting into a fight with party member Dominik Vuletić. The bone of contention seemed to be who would fill the sole seat in the European Parliament the party has won.

Sinčić said on Tuesday that the idea had been to rotate five low-profile party members in the European Parliament, but that since the deal was thwarted, they decided that Sinčić would go to the EP and stay there until the next parliamentary election in Croatia.

Sinčić said that Bunjac "sees himself in the European Parliament" and was against Sinčić's proposal that Tihomir Lukanić might be the MEP of Živi Zid.

Pernar today criticised the release of the video as an attempt to besmirch Bunjac's reputation.

More news about Živi Zid can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 4, 2018 - The Conflict of Interest Commission on Tuesday said that Croatian MP Ivan Pernar of the opposition Živi Zid party is obliged to deposit a watch given to him by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, among state protocol gifts, as it is valued more than 500 kuna.

One of the commission's members, Tončica Božić, said that this was a gift to an office-holder and that that matter is regulated by the Conflict of Interest Act which specifies that gifts of that nature could create some form of obligation by that official to the person who has given the gift.

Officials can retain symbolic gifts with a value of up to 500 kuna and anything exceeding that amount is considered to be a protocol gift to the state, Božić said.

The wrist watch Pernar received is estimated to cost 32,000 kuna.

Pernar also asked the commission whether he was allowed to give the emir a gift valued at more than 500 kuna without being in conflict of interest, i.e. without attempting to influence the emir's decision in doing so.

Božić said that the commission is not familiar with Qatar's regulations and that if Pernar intends to give the emir a gift he should check Qatar's regulations.

Recently Pernar had asked the Conflict of Interest Commission to give its opinion on whether the wrist watch he received from the Qatari emir as a gift could be treated as a gift that could influence the decisions he made as a parliamentary deputy.

Pernar told a press conference in Zagreb in late November that he had received the gift, valued at about 32,000 kuna, from the Qatari emir, who was recently on an official visit to Croatia, because he was "the only lawmaker in the Croatian parliament to raise his voice for the Palestinian cause".

"If the Commission believes that the Qatari emir wants to exert in this way influence on me as a lawmaker, and de facto bribe me, if they believe that he the emir stooped to that level, then they can tell me: 'Mr. Pernar, we suspect that this could be a way to influence you'," Pernar said then.

"In that case, I will give the watch to the Commission theatrically," the opposition MP told the press on 28 November.

The gifted watch was an act of deep respect, the Živi Zid official added.

The Qatari emir Al Thani visited Croatia on 19 November.

For more on the Živi Zid party, click here.

ZAGREB, April 30, 2018 - The opposition parliamentary party Živi Zid held its first convention in Zagreb on Sunday since the party establishment and unveiled its platform under the motto "Croatia offering equal opportunities for everyone".

The anti-establishment party’s popularity is growing.

While the government supports US latest intervention in Syria, others do not share its opinion.

Can even one of Croatia's most outspoken politicians be left speechless by Dubrovnik's beauty?

Several opposition MPs have organised a performance in Zagreb, in protest over prison sentences for football fans who recently insulted State Secretary for Sports, Janica Kostelić.

Another pressing issue prompts MPs of national minorities and HDZ to leave the parliamentary chamber.