ZAGREB, 15 March 2022 - MPs of the opposition Bridge party said on Tuesday that the Public Administration Ministry had determined that the party had collected a sufficient number of signatures for its two referendum initiatives, noting that the purpose of the two referendums was to build a shield for democracy and human rights.

MP Nikola Grmoja said that the referendum initiative aimed at amending Article 17 of the Constitution to include epidemic and pandemic as events during which constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms can be restricted only by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, had collected 370,310 valid signatures.

The other initiative, advocating a referendum against the national COVID-19 crisis management team, has collected 372,635 valid signatures, as determined by the Public Administration Ministry.

Grmoja believes that despite the war in Ukraine, that topic had not lost its relevance as it could become important again in autumn.

He noted that the current growth of prices in Croatia and the rest of the world was not due only to the Russian aggression against Ukraine because food and energy prices had been going up before it.

MP Nino Raspudić said that the issues raised by the two referendum initiatives were definitely not passe, claiming the government was keeping citizens in a state of permanent emergency in order to cover up its criminal activities.

"Croatia is being held captive by completely incompetent and immoral people implicated in criminal activity. This is the only way to say 'enough' through institutions. Croatian citizens have said so," Raspudić said, adding that the referendum question seeking to amend article 17 of the Constitution was aimed at building "a strong, lasting missile shield for democracy and human rights in Croatia" because "the same story could continue after the summer."

Asked for a comment on the varying expert assessments regarding the crash of a military drone in Zagreb last Thursday, Grmoja said that "Defence Minister Mario Banožić can no longer continue to be minister after this."

"Not only because of the fact that the incident happened, with our air defence system failing to react, but because of the very communication following this unprecedented incident," he said.

ZAGREB, June 18, 2020 - Science and Education Minister Blazenka Divjak said on Thursday she was appalled by the statements by Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Skoro and Bridge's election candidate Nino Raspudic about abortion.

"I am appalled by the recent discussions and statements by Mr. Skoro and Mr. Raspudic. Quite clearly, this is the sadistic humiliation of women and their rights and the unacceptable exploitation of painful personal traumas for political purposes," Divjak said in a Facebook post.

She commented on Skoro's statement made during an election debate with the secretary-general of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Gordan Jandrokovic, that "if a woman becomes pregnant after being raped, she should agree with her family what to do next."

"How dare they even think that as men they can tell women how they should feel or think or whose opinion they should ask for in any situation that concerns their lives," the minister said, adding that these are not messages that should be addressed to young people in 2020.

"Croatia, as I see it, is open, sympathetic and tolerant and not one where questions are raised about whether women can make rational decisions," she wrote.

ZAGREB, May 24, 2020 - Nino Raspudic, a professor of Italian language and literature at Zagreb's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, who is more known as a political analyst and columnist, said on Sunday that he would be a candidate on a slate of the Bridge party in the 5 July elections.

Announcing his political engagement in the next parliamentary elections, Raspudic said in the HTV's talks show on Sunday that he had been writing articles as a political columnist for newspapers for more than 10 years.

"This has been a sort of political work. It was not engagement party-wise, however, I have made some impact on shaping political discourse in Croatia," said this university professor, born in Mostar in 1975.

Raspudic said that "the democratic deficit" in Croatia, in the European Union and globally, when it comes to election processes, was the main reason why he had decided to run in the elections.

Raspudic's announcement ensued a few days after the Bridge party said that his wife Marija Selak Raspudic, a philosopher and political analyst, decided to run in the elections as an independent candidate on its slates.

The Raspudic couple has been perceived in the public as a reinforcement for Bridge after several officials and parliamentarians left the party or said they would not run in the next election, including Slaven Dobrovic, a former environmental protection minister, Ines Strenja, Ivana Nincevic-Lesnadric, and Robert Podolnjak.