ZAGREB, 4 May, 2021 - Parliamentary opposition parties have filed a joint motion for a vote of no confidence in Health Minister Vili Beroš over the accumulated problems in the healthcare sector and scandals related to the minister, Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Peđa Grbin said on Tuesday.

"The reasons for this move are clear to all citizens - the accumulated debts in the healthcare system resulted in the suspension of deliveries of medicines to hospitals at the height of the pandemic. There are also huge problems with the vaccination system, and we have learned of favourable treatment in the development of the cijepise.hr vaccination registration system," Grbin said.

"The development of this non-functioning system was awarded to people connected with Minister Beroš. There are also suspicious public procurement procedures at the Health Ministry such as one where IT services were awarded to a florist and tenders were fixed for former HDZ health ministers Andrija Hebrang and Neven Ljubičić, which have been cancelled but only after media started writing about them," he added.

"The Health Ministry is simply not functioning. There are no reforms, and the extent to which this affects people's lives could best be seen in a recent case at the Clinic for Tumors where citizens suffering from malignant diseases could not receive adequate care," Grbin said, naming Beroš as the person most responsible for this.

"We want Beroš to go because right now he has done nothing positive for the healthcare system, and all the negative things he has done pose a direct threat to people's health and lives," the SDP leader said. "His departure, however, will not be enough and we will all have to come to grips with the accumulated problems together."

Grbin said that a discussion on Beroš must be held within 30 days, and whether it will be held before or after the 16 May local elections "depends on Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković."

The initiative was signed by all opposition groups in parliament except the Croatian Sovereignists, but they have announced that they will vote in favour Beroš's resignation, Grbin said.

MOST's Nikola Grmoja said that his party had been warning for a long time about the problems faced by the healthcare system, including huge debts to drug wholesalers and long waiting lists.

"Beroš, of course, is not the only one to blame, the whole government is responsible. With our signatures we also want to encourage a reform of the healthcare system. All of us in the opposition agree that changes are necessary and should be launched urgently," Grmoja noted.

Sandra Benčić of the green-left We Can! platform said that they supported all the reasons for a no-confidence vote in Beroš, but stressed that the responsibility for the crisis in the healthcare system and the poor management of the coronavirus pandemic mostly lay with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

"None of the ministers, and certainly not Minister Beroš, makes decisions on their own. They were not chosen as competent persons in their departments but were chosen based on their loyalty to the prime minister who ultimately makes all decisions. The prime minister cannot be exonerated by his purported unawareness of the scandals for which we seek Beroš's resignation. That's why we ask whether the country can be run by a prime minister who does not know or who does not get key information," Benčić said.

Homeland Movement MP Stjepo Bartulica said that the Croatian healthcare system was too politicised. "There are countless problems and the possible resignation of Minister Beroš will not change things much. We have insisted from the start that the healthcare system should be governed by market principles because now we don't see any mechanisms that will bring about change to the system as this government resists structural reforms," he said.

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ZAGREB, June 14 (Hina) - "Women rule" is the message of a left-green coalition led by the We Can! platform which presented outside parliament on Sunday the women who will head the coalition's slates in six constituencies and their programme.

Sandra Bencic said that in their communities the women heading the slates worked on improving the lives of vulnerable groups, the economy, community building and solidarity within them.

"The HDZ and the SDP each have one woman heading their slates, and we have six as well as full gender parity. We also have a programme which advocates gender equality, which is more important than gender representation on a slate," said Danijela Dolenec.

She said the coalition's MPs would fight for the right to legal, free and available abortion and against the subsequent conscientious objection, for the implementation of the convention against domestic violence, and for LGBT equality, including their right to foster and adopt children.

Rada Boric said the last Croatian parliament had less than 13% of women, whereas their representation in European parliaments ranged from 30% to 50%.

Katarina Peovic said class conflicts would intensify in the autumn and that citizens now had the chance to elect those who protected workers' rights and who would insist on higher wages and better working conditions.

She said wages in Croatia were lower and the number of work hours higher than the European average, that 90% of contracts were fixed-term and that 50% of those were signed by young people, and that 14% of the Croats who emigrated were working-age and that many were women.

Natasa Hlaban underlined the need to pay greater attention to people with disabilities, saying it was necessary to amend laws on their rights.

Srdj is a City to run in a parliamentary election with We Can!

The Srd is a City citizens' slate said in Dubrovnik it was running in the July 5 parliamentary election with the coalition led by We Can!

The head of the We Can! slate in Constituency 1, Tomislav Tomasevic, said the coalition would fight in parliament against harmful laws, regulations and projects, and for a green and resilient economy, green reindustrialisation and renewables.