SDP Whip Arsen Bauk Says Speculation about Party Rift very Dangerous
ZAGREB, Oct 7, 2020 - Social Democratic Party whip Arsen Bauk said on Wednesday, following a rift in the SDP parliamentary group, that he hoped this was the last time something like that was happening because party members were fed up with conflicts and that conflicts would not continue.
The SDP group in the parliament on Tuesday rejected a proposal by the new SDP leader Pedja Grbin for changes in parliamentary positions held by the SDP.
Bauk said speculation about a rift in the party was very dangerous, adding that one such situation happened during the term of the last parliament when the party began the term with one number of MPs and ended it with a different number. He expressed hope this would not happen again.
"I have informed the parliamentary secretariat that the SDP presidency has decided that Pedja Grbin will be the new party whip, while Mirela Ahmetovic, Sinisa Hajdas Doncic, Sabina Glasovac and I will be his deputies, and we expect the secretariat to put those changes on the parliament's official web site," said Bauk.
The other proposals for appointments will not be forwarded by the party presidency but by the party's parliamentary group, in line with the parliament's standing orders. Since the parliament's standing orders say that party groups in the parliament are formed by political parties, I'm not sure the parliament's secretariat should arbitrate in parties' internal matters, said Bauk.
He assumes that the new party whip, as soon as the parliament secretariat carries out the proposed changes, would very shortly put forward a proposal for new personnel changes for the SDP.
When asked if Grbin would do so contrary to the will of a majority of SDP MPs, Bauk said that the will of SDP MPs would be determined at a plenary session.
Grbin on Wednesday would not comment on the conflict in the party but made a brief comment in a Facebook post on HDZ leader Andrej Plenkovic's statement that there was continuity of conflicts in the SDP.
"We do have problems, but we are dealing with them rather than sweeping them under the carpet. It's better to have the continuity of problems that are being dealt with than the continuity of not dealing with corruption," said Grbin.
HDZ whip surprised by SDP's motion
HDZ whip Branko Bacic told reporters he was surprised by the SDP's motion.
A party cannot send such proposals to the parliament, only a parliamentary group can or requests for certain appointments can be submitted if backed by a certain number of MPs, 40 for a deputy parliament speaker and 15 for a committee chair, he said.
"We are not a party state. Parties cannot propose bills or any other decision related to the work of the parliament. Under the standing orders, only parliamentary groups can do so or one should seek the support of a certain number of MPs. I'm surprised that Grbin, who chaired the Committee on the Constitution and Standing Orders, is putting forward a proposal which is, I won't say funny but is absolutely inappropriate and cannot be implemented, either under the law or under the standing orders," said Bacic, noting that the HDZ did not intend to arbitrate in the dispute in the SDP.
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New SDP Leader Says Will Borrow his Predecessors' Best Traits
ZAGREB, October 5, 2020 - SDP leader Pedja Grbin has said that he will borrow what he considers the best traits of his predecessors - Ivica Racan's calmness, Zoran Milanovic's directness and Davor Bernardic's perseverance but that he will not repeat their mistakes regarding lack of communication with party colleagues.
In an interview with national broadcasters on Sunday, the newly-elected leader of the Social Democratic Party said that it was his predecessors' character qualities and communication with party members that he planned to build the new SDP on, which would then be able to deal with problems bothering Croatian citizens.
Grbin noted that the public in Croatia discussed trivial topics instead of policies and what was going on in the country.
He said in an interview with RTL that the government had not envisaged a new distraint law for next year, that a national development strategy, the main document for the absorption of money from EU funds, was not being worked on, and in that context he said that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic should start doing his job.
I haven't seen Milanovic's message of congratulation
Asked if he had spoken with President Zoran Milanovic and if Milanovic had congratulated him on his election as the SDP leader, Grbin said that he had not noticed Milanovic's message, adding that Milanovic had the right to criticism but that unnecessary conflicts were another thing.
Grbin said he did not expect the SDP parliamentary group to oppose him despite the fact that there would be some changes in its work.
The SDP parliamentary group should be led by the party president while other personnel matters related to the group will be discussed by the party presidency first, said Grbin.
In an interview with the HTV public broadcaster, Grbin said that the priority for the coming elections in Zagreb would be to gather the entire civic and left camp, negotiate and agree on how to run in local elections, set for next year.
He said that residents of Zagreb were at the moment less interested in the name of the left camp's candidate for Zagreb mayor than in fighting corruption in the capital.
Commenting on the JANAF corruption scandal, Grbin said in his interview with RTL that there was suspicion that staff at the Office of the Chief State Prosecutor were involved in the case, noting that there were constant information leaks.
"If this society does not start to change, the situation won't get better," he said, noting that the ruling HDZ party lacked the will to initiate changes.
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New SDP Leader Pedja Grbin: I Want to be Warned about Mistakes
ZAGREB, October 4, 2020 - New Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Pedja Grbin said on Saturday night that he wanted to be warned about mistakes as he had warned Davor Bernardic.
Grbin dismissed the idea that he had wanted to overthrow Davor Bernardic, saying that he was merely reacting to what he considered bad and added that he expected his colleagues to do the same.
Grbin said that there would be no suspensions or dissolutions of party organisations and that they would work on strengthening the existing organisations and establishing new ones across Croatia.
He announced that the provision on the party members' right to vote would be amended to give everyone the right to vote.
As for local elections, Grbin said that the SDP would have a candidate for the Zagreb mayoral election.
"That candidate will not only be SDP's candidate, but a candidate of all progressive, civic and left-wing parties that truly want changes in Zagreb," he said.
Asked whether that will be Tomislav Tomasevic of the We Can! platform, he said that before such a decision was made, there would be talks with other political options and the city branch.
"We will do our best for the citizens of Zagreb, and that is to free them from this octopus of corruption that has spread its tentacles around the city," he said.
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MP Grbin Hands In Candidacy For SDP Leader
ZAGREB, Aug 21, 2020 - SDP parliamentarian Pedja Grbin said on Friday that he had handed in his candidacy for the Social Democratic Party leader with almost 1,400 signatures in support of his presidential bid.
Asked about another two candidates for the SDP presidency, Grbin said that Mirela Ahmetovic is an excellent mayor and Zeljko Kolar is an excellent county prefect and both are serious politicians and SDP members who, after the election could be a part of his team.
Grbin said that SDP's defeat in the 5 July parliamentary elections should serve as a springboard for transforming the party for the better.
He confirmed that a problem exists regarding party membership and membership fees, because of the 33,000 members of the party only about 6,000 regularly pay membership fees, he said adding that this was because of the membership's disappointment in the party.
The election won't be legitimate if the majority of membership does not vote
I appealed to the leadership and that has brought results and regular paying members now count about 12,000 and I hope there will be more, he said.
He believes that the election will not be legitimate if at least half or a good portion of SDP members would not vote in the intra-party elections set for 26 September.
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Party Presidential Hopeful Unveils His Document For #newSDP
ZAGREB, Aug 17, 2020 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) parliamentarian, Pedja Grbin, who has recently announced his aspirations to become the next party president, on Monday presented his document with guidelines for SDP's recovery after its defeat in the Croatian parliamentary elections.
Grbin, who posted the document on social media networks, says that "unfortunately, little has changed for the better in the last four years."
"The document I have posted contains my ideas, guidelines, and suggestions for the recovery of the SDP," he said on his Facebook profile.
The SDP will hold internal elections on 26 September. As of this Monday, candidates will have 15 days to submit their candidacies for the party's president, the presidency and main committee. Those running for the president will need to collect at least 500 signatures from SDP members in support of their bid.
Grbin, who has explicitly stated his intention to take the helm of the party, says that #newSDP must put an emphasis on creating contents, policies and programmes.
He advocates changes in the organisation of this Opposition party, calling for making the party's bodies smaller and easy to operate.
The promotion within the party must be based on the results and achievements in elections and not on interpersonal likes and preferences within the party, Grbin says.
He says that he supports the one member- one vote method, however, warns against manipulation of OMOV when the membership fee is set at a mere one kune for many party members who are then reduced to the role of voting for somebody.
Grbin is therefore in favour of checking the register of party members and the revision and updating of the membership roster.
HDZ: SDP's Grbin Resorts to Aggressive Rhetoric to Conceal Lack of Vision
July 19, 2020 - The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on Saturday said that the rhetoric used by Social Democrat official Peđa Grbin who had called HDZ members thieves "is futile rhetoric of marked by aggressive behavior and lies which the SDP used in the run-up to the parliamentary elections."
Instead of presenting the SDP's vision of the future or programs for the challenges which Croatia is faced with, Grbin is again trying to label HDZ members as "thieves", resorting to the futile rhetoric of aggressive behavior and lies which the SDP kept promotion, including also during the election campaigning, HDZ said on its Facebook account after Grbin's statements earlier on Saturday.
Peđa Grbin, who has been the only one to explicitly express his intention to take the helm of the SDP so far, since the SDP leader Davor Bernardić resigned due to the party's poor election results, said on Saturday that he would support the Možemo! platform leader's candidacy for Zagreb Mayor if that would mean Milan Bandić's ouster. Grbin admitted that he saw no problem to support Tomislav Tomašević of the Možemo! platform as a joint mayoral candidate of several parties in the capital city, if that will mean the ouster of the current Mayor Milan Bandić whom he called "a thief" and if that will mean "that we will not let thieves from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) succeed him (Bandić)."
HDZ says that this statement made by Grbin, who "is trying to introduce himself as a leader of the new SDP after that party's election defeat" on 5 July, proves that nothing new could be expected from the SDP-led coalition. HDZ says that SDP representatives use false accusations about thieves only to disguise their own incompetence and lack of the party's program and vision, which was the reason why the SDP "experienced one of the worst election results" in its history.
State Prosecutor's Term Ends Next Week, No Successor Nominated
ZAGREB, April 16, 2018 - The parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Monday called on the government to nominate the next chief state prosecutor as soon as possible as the term of the incumbent Dinko Cvitan expires next week.
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