ZAGREB, June 8, 2020 - Social Democratic Party president Davor Bernardic on Monday accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of pursuing a policy which betrayed national interests because Hungarian PM Viktor Orban was laying claims on Rijeka and that in return, Plenkovic was delivering Croatian oil.

"Orban is Plenkovic's friend. He claims parts of Croatian territory and as a reward, Plenkovic delivers Croatian oil to Budapest," he said in response to questions from the press, calling this a "policy of betraying Croatia's national interests."

As for the announcement from Canada that Croatian citizens there would not be able to vote in Croatia's parliamentary election because of COVID-19, Bernardic said the key task of the government and the state was to make sure that every Croatian citizen could go to their polling station anywhere in the world.

That was one of the reasons why the SDP asked the COVID-19 crisis management team to ensure that citizens can vote, notably in care homes, he said.

Asked if he would sign a green-left coalition petition for the president to convene an extraordinary parliamentary session after the election so as to have a law on the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb passed, Bernardic said that the SDP-led Restart Coalition, after winning the election, would pass that law at parliament's first session.

Our experts from various fields are working on that bill and our goal is that citizens return to their homes as soon as possible, that we activate the construction sector and stop the real estate brokerage currently going on in Zagreb because people have moved out and their properties have been devalued, Bernardic said.

Commenting on a public opinion poll according to which 42% of citizens would not go to the polls, he urged citizens to vote and "say no to the thieving government" because, he said, it concerned every citizen what Croatia would look like and if it would be free of corruption.

ZAGREB, June 8, 2020 - The president of the Social Democratic Party's Osijek-Baranja County branch and former MP, Domagoj Hajdukovic, was physically assaulted in Osijek on Sunday, sustaining light injuries, and the attacker has been arrested, county police said on Monday.

Without identifying either the attacker or the victim, police said they were notified around 5.30 p.m. on Sunday by a 39-year-old man that he had been verbally and physically attacked in the street by a 26-year-old man known to him.

Doctors established that he was lightly injured.

ZAGREB, June 6, 2020 - The leadership of the Istrian Democratic Party (IDS)  on Friday decided to join the "Restart" opposition coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the upcoming parliamentary elections which Croatia will hold on 5 July.

The IDS leadership said that the decision was made after a series of negotiations with the SDP which accepted all the conditions set by this regional party.

One of the conditions was that any future territorial reorganization of Croatia would preserve the autonomous status of Istria as a county.

Also, the IDS insisted on having its four candidates on the Restart slate for the constituency No. 8.

In the last parliament, the IDS parliamentary club had four lawmakers: three of whom were IDS members plus independent deputy Furio Radin as the representative of the ethnic Italian minority.

The IDS leader Boris Miletic, who is the mayor of the City of Pula, said after the leadership's meeting that he was not among those four candidates, explaining that now when the county was dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences, his duty would be to "remain here in Istria." 

ZAGREB, June 5, 2020 - Leader of the Restart coalition and of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Davor Bernardic said on Friday that the state has to adapt to citizens and entrepreneurs and to save their time and money, improve the quality of life for citizens and the economy's competitiveness.

"Citizens need to be offered a palette of services that will make state and public administration more accessible, save time and money and improve the quality of life and provide enterprises with a series of tools that will boost their competitiveness, automate them and relieve administrative burdens while ensuring the digital transformation of state and public administration aimed at improving efficiency and accessibility for citizens," he said presenting the coalition's digital transformation plank.

Tool against corruption 

Digital transformation is one of the basic tools against corruption. All of the state's spending has to be publicly accessible in the one place, he said. The public should know who uses official vehicles and for what, who receives agricultural subsidies and all public procurement has to be visible, he added. 

Digitisation of public administration could increase public sector efficiency by 52% by 2030, Mihael Zmajlovic said.

The ICT sector accounts for 5% of GDP and it is estimated that that share can be doubled particularly since the EU has allocated €2 billion for that sector's development, he added.

ZAGREB, June 5, 2020 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardic said on Friday that the court ruling allowing the use of the Ustasha salute "For the Homeland Ready" in a song was scandalous, adding that this was the result of fascism being downplayed the current government.

"The ruling by the High Misdemeanour Court that Marko Perkovic Thompson may use the salute For the Homeland Ready (in his song) is scandalous. Imagine a German court allowing the use of the salute Sieg Heil or Heil Hitler! in Germany," Bernardic said at a press conference while commenting on the court ruling.

He said that the ruling was the result of four years of failure to deal with this problem and of fascism being downplayed by this government which legalized the salute For the Homeland Ready through the commission dealing with the consequences of the rule of undemocratic regimes.

He stressed that Croatia was united in the 1991-1995 Homeland War and that no one had the right to cast a stain on it by using the fascist symbols of the Ustasha regime that was defeated in the Second World War.

Milanovic: Court ruling is odd

During his visit to Sisak on Thursday, President Zoran Milanovic was asked by reporters to comment on the court ruling. He said he had not seen it, but that it seemed odd to him.

"The matter should have been dealt with more clearly by the criminal code, but no one, of course,  should go to prison for that, and I will have no influence on it. It should be an indictable offense punishable by a suspended sentence or a caution. In this way, we only put judges in silly situations and it puts a great burden on them," Milanovic said, adding that the police would not know what to do either. 

He said that Article 5 of the Public Order Act was vague and should be changed.

ZAGREB, May 30, 2020 - Opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardic said on Saturday, on the occasion of Statehood Day, that the only reform implemented by the government led by Andrej Plenkovic was the reform of the holiday calendar.

Offering his congratulations to Croatians for Statehood Day, Bernardic noted that Statehood Day was again observed on May 30 by a decision of the incumbent government.

"Holiday dates change, corruption stays, corruption was and remains the trademark of this government, led by the HDZ," said Bernardic, adding that he could not help but think that the latest arrests in a case involving the construction of a wind park were politically motivated and served to divert public attention from the "latest scandals involving (ministers) Bosnjakovic, Coric and INA" and create the impression ahead of elections that state institutions were doing something about corruption.

"Everyone knows that this is the most corrupt government in Croatia's history and that 11 of its ministers had to go because of suspicion of corruption," Bernardic said at the Mirogoj cemetery, where together with other leaders of the RESTART coalition he laid wreaths.

"That topic is irrelevant," he said when asked by reporters if his coalition would, when it came to power, change the holiday calendar.

"The most important topic at the moment is how to save jobs, increase wages and bring back to the country more than 150,000 people who have emigrated," he said.

Croatia will have to wait for money from the EU

Bernardic believes that Croatia will have to fight hard for the 10 billion euros to be allocated by the EU for the country to salvage its economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That money has to pass certain bodies, it is just a proposal by the European Commission and we will have to wait for it, Croatia has unfortunately overslept its EU presidency and fortunately Germany is taking over on July 1," said Bernardic, describing Croatia's EU presidency as inactive.

ZAGREB, May 27, 2020 - The Social Democratic Party (SDP) Restart coalition on Wednesday presented its election platform "Agenda for a Start'  for the 5 July parliamentary election with SDP leader Davor Bernardic saying that they are the only true force for a change and a restart.

"It's time for a new policy, a policy of courage, sincerity, and trust. An election awaits us. The choice does not seem to be that difficult. Order or chaos. Honesty or corruption. Justice and equality before the law or protection for the privileged," said Bernardic accompanied by his coalition partners - Silvano Hrelja, leader of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSU), Anka Mrak Taritas of the Glas party, Goran Aleksic of the Snaga party and leader of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) leader Kreso Beljak.

He announced that the Restart coalition government would make decisions on key issues in its first week in power that should have been resolved prior to the election.

"We will extend job keeping measures through a law on shorter working hours. We will adopt a law on a one-year moratorium on loan repayments, a decision on providing loans by financial institutions for small and medium-sized enterprises and a set of measures for the socially most vulnerable citizens who count for more than a million and we will send the bill on Zagreb's post-quake reconstruction on the fast track to parliament," Bernardic said while listing the first steps if they won the election.

He said that in the past five years not one serious reform has been conducted in the country.

The attempted pension reform failed. The education reform does not exist and we will remember the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) term in government for a wave of strikes and resistance by the entire education community, said Bernardic.

Taking stock of the current government's term, Bernardic said that today, Croatia had more than a million people living on the verge of poverty, half of them being pensioners. The health system is burdened with scandals and amassed debts of HRK 9.1 billion.

Our objective, he said, is to increase pension allowances by introducing guaranteed pension allowances of 70% of the average wage, increase the minimum wage to HRK 4,000, and increasing the level non-taxable income to HRK 5,000 which will immediately lead to a wage increase for more than 700,000 workers, he said.

ZAGREB, May 25, 2020 - Croatian Parliament Speaker and secretary-general of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Gordan Jandrokovic, said on Monday that a grand coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was out of the question, as was a coalition with Miroslav Skoro's Homeland Movement, and that cooperation with Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic was unlikely.

"The HDZ will run in elections by itself, our coalition partners are the citizens, there will be no grand coalition with the SDP, and we will also not enter a coalition with Skoro," Jandrokovic told Croatian Radio, noting that the media should "ask Skoro and (SDP leader Davor) Bernardic if they will cooperate, I think it is about time to ask that question as well".

"There will be no talks with Skoro," Jandrokovic answered when asked if there was a possibility to at least talk with Skoro if that proved crucial for forming a government, and how much of a problem Skoro's partners, for instance, Hrvoje Zekanovic and Zlatko Hasanbegovec, could be.

"You have mentioned certain people, we will not cooperate with them because they are not a team who we consider would be capable of leading Croatia responsibly and seriously," Jandrokovic said, confirming that the HDZ's cooperation with Zagreb's Mayor, Milan Bandic, was also in question.

The HDZ objects to Bandic's criticising the government over its response to the consequences of the earthquake which hit Zagreb on March 22.

"It is unusual that Bandic has accused the government unprovoked, and it seems that we are becoming distant to such an extent that cooperation after the election will be impossible," Jandrokovic said.

As for cooperation with the Croatian People's Party (HNS), Jandrokovic did not want to speak about it as of yet.

We first need to see their election result, I would not comment on it yet, Jandrokovic noted.

Jandrokovic, who will be running in parliamentary elections for the sixth time, did not reveal in which constituency he would run. The decision on the order of candidates on electoral lists must first be reached by the competent party bodies, and before that happens it would not be appropriate to go public with such information, Jandrokovic said.

ZAGREB, May 24, 2020 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) Davor Bernardic, who on Sunday visited Split as a stop of on his party's campaign trail, said that the SDP agenda included the construction of retirement homes with about 10,000 accommodation units.

Bernardic said that the SDP planned the construction of new senior homes so that "pensioners, whose numbers are growing in Croatia from day to day, can have a dignified life in their senior age."

He said that the SDP agenda includes also the construction of flats that can be rented by undergraduates, young families, young researchers, and others who cannot live in their home towns, and in this context he criticised the currently high rent prices of flats in Split and other cities.

Bernardic said that the whole agenda of this strongest Opposition party would soon be unveiled and that it would include plans for digitisation of the country, fight against corruption, the establishment of an office for suppression of tax fraud, which he called the USKOK for tax frauds, in reference to the current Office for Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (USKOK), the overhaul of the judiciary, and legislation on checking the origins of someone's wealth.

During his stay in Split, Bernardic especially criticised the situation in the city's senior home in Vukovarska Street where 18 of the residents died in recent weeks after the coronavirus made its way to that institution. He accused the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of the developments in that home and for the fact that no one had been brought to justice for that.

The SDP chief would not comment on anything to reporters about the HDZ response that when it came to ethics, Bernardic should be aware that he himself had been found by the Conflict of Interest Commission to violate the principle of transparent action. In late 2019, the Conflict of Interest Commission recently established that Bernardic violated the principle of transparent action when, in 2014, he accepted a scholarship from the Cotrugli Business School worth HRK 263,000 because he received the scholarship as a politician and not as an expert.

Asked by the press about those HDZ comments and whether he had paid back the "contentious (scholarship) grant", he said that he did not want to comment any more "on the most corrupt government in the Croatian history".

ZAGREB, May 23, 2020 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardic said on Saturday in Dubrovnik that voting for the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) meant voting for corruption.

Responding to Plenkovic's statement in an interview that a vote for Miroslav Skoro was a vote for the SDP, the opposition leader thus reiterated his accusations against the HDZ.

He went on to say that during the four-year of the term of the current government Plenkovic "has hidden behind Brussels, his aides, various task forces, the virus, and crisis management teams."

Commenting on Plenkovic's statement that the ban on Sunday work will be lifted if it is established that it is no longer required epidemiologically, but that he is for Sunday to be a non-working day, the SDP chief said that Plenkovic could not decide whether to have working or non-working Sundays.

"He could not take a position on important decisions for Croatia. Therefore, he cannot be at the helm of Croatia, and he will not be after 5 July," Bernardic said at a news conference in Dubrovnik before an SDP meeting.

Bernardic accused the Plenkovic government of lack of care for the tourism sector and promised that as soon as the SDP won the election, that party would reduce Value Added Tax in tourism and hospitality to 10%.