ZAGREB, June 13, 2019 – Živi Zid president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Thursday told those gloating that this opposition party was over that it was not and that it would come out even stronger, and he also presented the party's new MPs - Damjan Vučelić and Snježana Sabolek.

Speaking to the press, Sinčić commented on the recent departure of Ivan Pernar and Branimir Bunjac from the party, saying "the truth will be known in a very short time."

Sinčić said he was willing to forget the ugly words and insults against the party, its members and himself. "As someone who has been in politics eight years and is the party's president, I must guard Živi Zid's honour."

He said the party would continue to work because citizens wanted it to. He called on everyone wishing to join the party to do so, and presented Vučelić and Sabolek as the members who will replace him and his wife Vladimira Palfi Sinčić in parliament.

Recently Sinčić said that he would become one of the 12 Croatian MEPs, after his party won only one seat in the EP election on 26 May. A decision on who is entitled to fill that seat seemed to be the main bone of contention between him and the party's two MPs, Pernar and Bunjac, who left Živi Zid in the meantime.

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, June 5, 2019 – Živi Zid president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić said on Tuesday that MP Branimir Bunjac was suspended from the party for not sticking to its strategy prior to the recent European elections and an agreement than none of the party's MPs would go to the European Parliament.

"That was the deal, that's how the slate was compiled, that's how the campaign was done," Sinčić told reporters, adding that Bunjac "thwarted that deal" and that he "sees himself in the European Parliament."

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

He explained that due to preferential voting, he could not leave his seat in the EP to the Tihomir Lukanić, and that Bunjac did not want to leave his seat to Lukanić.

Lukanić was the lead candidate on the Živi Zid slate for the EP elections. Sinčić, although last, won the most preferential votes, followed by Bunjac. After the elections, in which the party won one seat in the EP, Sinčić said Lukanić was his choice for going to Brussels.

"I didn't expect Branimir Bunjac to act like this and once again call on him to act honourably, to respect the pre-election agreement and enable me to leave my seat to Lukanic," said Sinčić.

He said he did not wish to go to the EP, that everyone expected the seat to go to Lukanić and that he would do his best to make it happen, but that Bunjac was "the only obstacle."

Sinčić said the heads of the party's county branches unanimously decided that Bunjac must honour the agreement and leave the seat to Lukanić.

Bunjac's fate, ranging from a warning to ousting, will be decided by the party's disciplinary commission. His suspension is effective June 5. "There's no split in the party. This is simply about a man who is acting dishonourably against the whole party," said Sinčić.

Lukanić, who recently resigned as the party's secretary-general, will now be its political secretary.

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

ZAGREB, January 12, 2019 - The leader of Italy's Five Star Movement, Luigi Di Maio, who is gathering similar political parties ahead of this year's European Parliament elections, met in Brussels on Tuesday with the leaders of three parties advocating direct democracy, including Ivan Sinčić, president of Croatia's opposition Živi Zid.

Di Maio, Sinčić, the president of Poland's Kukiz'15 political movement, Pawel Kukiz, and Karoliina Kahonen of Finland's Liike Nyt political movement met to discuss cooperation in the upcoming European polls.

In an interview with Italy's Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, Di Maio says the negotiations with Kukiz'15 and Živi Zid are nearing completion, while those with Liike Nyt are expected to be completed in about ten days. The Croats from Živi Zid, whose leader was born in 1990, "look almost like us," he noted.

Živi Zid secretary-general Tihomir Lukanić told Hina on Friday "relations haven't been formalised yet." "We talked about a programme and the things we have in common. We are currently working on a possible joint programme and if we manage to agree, we will present it together to the public soon," Lukanić said, adding that with the Five Star Movement, they "exchanged experience in the fight against corruption, organised crime and the establishment."

"They see the opposition in us. It was an honour to attend the meeting. It's time for new policies. If Italy could do it, so can Croatia," Sinčić said on Facebook.

We don't agree with the Poles on civil rights and abortion, while the Finns are very liberal, Di Maio has told Il Fatto Quotidiano. Živi Zid is against the euro, which we advocate, he adds.

Despite the ideological differences, the parties will sign in Rome in mid-February a ten-point manifesto founded on direct democracy, he says, adding that the manifesto will focus on social rights and that they want to "reduce the privileges of the few."

Lukanić said they had many things in common and that Živi Zid's objection to Croatia's adopting the euro was not an obstacle to a joint articulation of other problems.

The Five Star Movement is currently part of the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group in the European Parliament.

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

ZAGREB, October 24, 2018 - Leaders of the Živi Zid parliamentary party denied on Wednesday having met with U.S. politician and media executive Steve Bannon, who is perceived as a right-wing ideologist who helped President Donald Trump come to power.

ZAGREB, September 30, 2018 - The leader of the Živi Zid party, Ivan Vilibor Sinčić, said on Sunday that Croatia's departure from NATO and the European Union had been part of the programme of this parliamentary opposition party since its outset.

ZAGREB, July 26, 2018 - Croatia will pay slightly over 31 million kuna (4.2 million euro) for NATO membership this year, the government said on Thursday in its response to a query by MP Ivan Vilibor Sinčić who was interested in the amount of Croatia's obligations toward NATO and where these funds are noted in the budget.

While Andrej and Kolinda spend time refusing to see eye to eye on key matters, the public loses their already weak confidence in the pair...

ZAGREB, May 30, 2018 – Živi Zid leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić said on Wednesday that his party had sent to parliament for consideration amendments to the Contractual Relations Act and the Foreign Exchange Act to abolish the foreign currency clause in Croatia by December 1.

ZAGREB, May 10, 2018 – Živi Zid president Ivan Vilibor Sinčić on Thursday criticised the government's decision to adopt a euro introduction strategy, saying his opposition party was against it and that it advocated that the kuna remain Croatia's currency.