ZAGREB, October 29, 2019 - It would be best for Croatia if presidential and parliamentary elections were held on the same day, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) said at a press conference on Tuesday, calling on all progressive forces in the country to form an anti-corruption alliance.

The press conference was prompted by the discovery that Inspector-General Andrija Mikulić had failed to declare in his declaration of assets close to 700 square metres of his property on the northern Adriatic island of Krk. Earlier in the day Mikulić said this was an unintentional mistake and that he had launched a procedure to correct it.

SDP MP Gordan Maras called the situation unbelievable, advising all business people to do the same as Mikulić when visited by inspectors and apologise for any irregularities.

"It is precisely because of things like this that the SDP has moved to form a broad anti-corruption alliance of all progressive forces in society, which would involve as many political parties as possible as well as civil society and individuals," MP Željko Jovanović said.

Speaking of President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Jovanović said that her image was disastrous, describing her election campaign "as a totally confused campaign of a lost woman whom people, and especially those in Rijeka and the surrounding area, are increasingly ashamed of."

"People are simply disgusted by all these things that are going on around the HDZ and their presidential candidate. People can't watch corruption any more eating away young people's future and robbing elderly people of their dignity," Jovanović said.

The SDP has prepared a string of bills that will be sent to Parliament and the first one will be the bill on the origin of property because people have the right to know how someone has come into possession of their property, the SDP lawmaker said.

"We want the Tax Administration to be proactive rather than passive. The Tax Administration, together with the Money Laundering Office, has the necessary tools to analyse all tax returns and find out if there are any discrepancies between the amount of property owned and the income of taxpayers, especially office holders, prominent political figures and everyone who took part in privatisation processes," Jovanović said.

Responding to questions from the press, Maras ruled out a possibility of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the SDP forming a grand coalition. "That's not an option," he said.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, October 26, 2019 - Addressing a meeting of his party's main committee in Zagreb on Saturday, Social Democrat (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković was an obstacle for Croatia's admission to the Schengen passport-free area, and added that this opposition party would start forming a large anti-corruption alliance.

"A detailed, complex and comprehensive report made by the European Commission on a state of affairs in Croatia reads that a crucial condition for Croatia's entry into the Schengen Area is the fight for the widespread corruption in our country," Bernardić said adding that a half of the Plenković cabinet had had to step down due to suspected corruption.

The opposition leader said that the strengthening of independent institutions, including the National Conflict of Interest Commission, was also a prerequisite for Croatia's Schengen bid.

In this context Bernardić accused Plenković of exerting pressure on that commission, claiming that therefore this was an obstacle for Croatia's admission to the Schengen Area. He reiterated criticism over the fact that the parliament's Grand Chamber would be rented to the European People's Party (EPP) for a meeting if its political assembly on 19 November.

Bernardić said that it is the HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) "that is leasing the whole of Croatia and destroying it."

This past Tuesday the European Commission assessed that Croatia met the conditions for joining the Schengen Area and asked the Council of the EU to include Croatia in the area without internal border controls.

"The European Commission considers that, based on the results of the Schengen evaluation process initiated in 2016, Croatia has taken the measures needed to ensure that the necessary conditions for the full application of the Schengen rules and standards are met," a press release said.

"Croatia will need to continue working on the implementation of all ongoing actions, in particular its management of the external borders, to ensure that these conditions continue to be met. The Commission also today confirms that Croatia continues to fulfil the commitments, linked to the Schengen rules, that it undertook in the accession negotiations," reads the press release issued by the EC.

The Commission's evaluation on technical preparedness is not enough for joining but it is a prerequisite for the member states to make a political decision on the accession.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 28, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić told a press conference on Saturday that the only problem in Croatia was its corruption-ridden ruling party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), adding that the country must free itself from the jaws of corruption so that it could move forward.

"The prime minister should be more serious in his statements. Today the problem is non-governmental organisations, yesterday it was the Conflict of Interest Commission, before that it was trade unions. In fact, the only problem is the HDZ which is loaded with corruption," Bernardić said in response to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's accusations that the GONG non-governmental organisation is "a prolonged arm" of the SDP because it is questioning the property of the Croatian candidate for European Commission Vice-President, Dubravka Šuica.

"Whoever cares about Croatia and who loves it has nothing against their declaration of assets being made public. People are rightly wondering how it is possible that a secondary school teacher from Dubrovnik owns property which, according to speculation, is worth about five million euros, because we know that Croatian teachers suffer hardship. If everything is transparent, there is no reason not to show it," the SDP leader said.

Responding to accusations that criticism of Šuica was undermining the international reputation of Croatia, Bernardić said that it was very important for Croatia's reputation to be credible and to make the declarations of assets of all Croatian office holders public. He said that the SDP had put forward an amendment, which will be put to a vote next Wednesday, to make public the declarations of assets of all EU office holders.

"We demand full transparency and the fight against corruption and we will not give up. In order for Croatia to move forward it must free itself from the jaws of corruption," Bernardić said.

More news about SDP can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 27, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Peđa Grbin on Friday dismissed Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's accusations that the GONG non-governmental organisation was "a prolonged arm" of the SDP and that they were orchestrating an attack on the Croatian candidate for European Commission Vice-President, Dubravka Šuica, over her declaration of assets.

"The answer to the prime minister's accusations is very simple - prove the origin of her assets and everything will be sorted. For years there have been reports circulating in the Croatian media, and quite justifiably so, of a disproportion between Šuica's income and the property that she owns," Grbin said.

He said he thought it was necessary, when Šuica became the candidate for a European Commissioner, to give her a chance to explain herself.

"Her answer, to put it mildly, was ridiculous because it is interesting that her family's ship came in only after she became mayor of Dubrovnik. Prove the origin of her property and everything will be clean, and don't blame those who asked this question, which is perfectly normal in a modern and democratic state, but answer it," the MP said.

Asked if he was in any way in contact with GONG when he raised the issue of Šuica's personal assets, Grbin said he was in contact with the Croatian media. "The Croatian media has written about this for years so I simply googled it and within 20 minutes I had all the information I needed to ask that question."

Grbin said it was interesting that Plenković had reacted to GONG but not to some other non-governmental organisations. "I haven't heard that he reacted to HVIDRA (the association of disabled war veterans) which has been attacking an MP and member of the ethnic Serb minority in Croatia for days now. Plenković never asked on whose behalf they were acting," Grbin said.

The leader of the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Krešo Beljak, said on Friday that GONG was also a prolonged arm of his party because the HSS had recently put forward a bill on the origin of personal property.

"The ruling coalition rejected the bill, but we will continue to insist on checks of the property of all politicians and other public office holders, such as judges," Beljak said, adding that Šuica's personal property was estimated at several million euros.

Beljak asked the prime minister to say how a secondary school teacher could earn so much money. "Common sense dictates that she couldn't have earned it legally."

The Conflict of Interest Commission has received several requests for Dubravka Šuica's declaration of assets, however, those requests have been rejected for the purpose of protecting private data considering that Šuica has not been a Croatian official since 2011.

After receiving several requests for access to information in declarations of assets belonging to Šuica, who is Croatia's candidate for a European Commission vice president, a test of proportionality was conducted considering that declarations of assets contain a lot of personal information and that Šuica she has not been a Croatian official for more than seven years, the commission's spokeswoman Martina Jurišić told reporters.

The test proved that in this specific case the interest of protecting personal data prevailed over public interest in access to the declarations of assets and the requests were turned down, Jurišić said.

However, in deciding about the requests, the commission would consider those circumstances if Šuica herself gave permission to release her declarations.

According to the media, Dubrovnik's former mayor and former member of the Croatian parliament and later a MEP, allegedly owns assets worth more than 5 million euro.

More news about Dubravka Šuica can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 8, 2019 - The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Osijek on Sunday presented its programme for the development of the eastern Slavonia region until 2030, saying that over 50,000 people have left the region since the launch of the government's Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem project and that they could see "no benefits for the citizens" in the government project.

"When the SDP comes to power, we will revive agriculture through our reform. Family farms will receive 20% higher incentives than they do now and will receive them in time," SDP leader Davor Bernardić said after a meeting of the party's regional branches.

Responding to questions from the press, he did not explicitly say whether the SDP, if it came to power, would scrap the government project. He said they could see "no benefits for the citizens" in it and that 50,000 people have left the region in search of a better livelihood since the project was launched.

"People are living harder and harder. Wages haven't gone up, and farmers have difficulty marketing their produce. The main problem with this project is that Croatia has absorbed slightly less than 15 percent of EU funding available to it. If we had begged we would have got more," the SDP chief said.

The SDP's plan aims to make Slavonia "a rich and successful region with happy and satisfied people" within the next ten years, focusing on the development of agriculture.

"Slavonia is devastated. Our goal is to employ and bring back people, especially those who have gone abroad, and we will do that by boosting the development of agriculture and by building transport infrastructure and supporting strategic industries," Bernardić said.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 7, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said on Saturday that Croatian Serb leader Milorad Pupovac had gone too far in comparing the contemporary Croatia to the 1941-1945 Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (NDH) regime, however he holds the current government responsible for "a climate facilitating attacks on those who differ from others".

"It is clear to everyone that Croatia cannot be compared to the NDH," the SDP chief said during his visit to the ongoing international agricultural fair in Bjelovar, about 90 kilometres northeast of Zagreb.

On the other hand, there is a climate suitable for attacks on those who differ from the majority, Bernardić said, blaming it on the current government. In this context he claimed that attacks directed against Serbs had become normal, and also pointed out the tolerated use of the Ustasha salute "For the homeland ready".

Bernardić again wondered why Pupovac was still a member of the ruling coalition.

Media outlets have reported that recent statements made by Pupovac were on the agenda of a three-hour long meeting of the ruling coalition parties in Zagreb on Friday.

Zoran Milanović, the presidential candidate of the SDP party, who toured the fair grounds separately from Bernardić, said in his comment on relations within the ruling coalition, that it was up to the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) to decide whether it would treat Pupovac as a friend or foe.

In 1997, when he voted for constitutional changes, Pupovac was loved by the HDZ more than if he were their brother, said Milanović, a former SDP leader and prime minister.

He, however, would not comment on Pupovac's statements in which he had compared the current Croatia to the NDH regime. "I do not know what exactly Pupovac said. I hope he didn't overreact," Milanović told the press.

As for statements made by another presidential hopeful, Miroslav Škoro, about a possibility to impose a ban on Pupovac's Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milanović said that "every political party talks nonsense from time to time. The SDP used to talk nonsense, the HDZ talks nonsense every day. If we start banning parties for that, it will pave the way to tyranny".

Earlier in the day Bernardić said that Škoro's proposal on the possible ban of the SDSS was unacceptable.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 28, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Davor Bernardić said on Tuesday there was money to raise salaries of healthcare workers, teachers, police officers and firefighters but that the government does not have the political will to do so.

Addressing a press conference, he wondered why the finance minister said there was no money to raise salaries in the public sector if the economy and tourism were growing and the deficit was decreasing.

Bernardić said that according to fiscal policy guidelines for 2020, the government predicted 3 billion kuna higher tax revenues and that they were predicted to rise this year by 5.3 billion kuna. He said this meant there was money and the only question was where it was going.

He said the annual cost of raising salaries in line with current union demands was 800 million kuna and that this was only 2% of the amount annually set aside for public employees.

The SDP supported the union demands for higher salaries and reiterated its proposal to raise the non-taxable income from 3,800 to 5,000 kuna, saying this would mean 350-500 kuna higher salaries for 700,000 people.

Bernardić said the SDP's proposal and the union demands would result in 13% higher salaries for teachers, healthcare workers, police and firefighters and 10% higher salaries for doctors. He underlined the need to raise salaries for doctors, nurses and teachers, "or the whole system will collapse."

He went on to say there was a bad inter-ethnic climate in the country and that this suited the right-wing members of the ruling HDZ party ahead of the presidential election "in order to avoid talking about poverty in Croatia and emigration."

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 24, 2019 - Commenting on recent attacks on members of the Serb minority, the president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Davor Bernardić, said on Friday that these attacks were not isolated cases, adding that once the SDP returned to power, these attacks and violence would not be tolerated.

Asked to comment on SDP's position on recent attacks on members of the Serb ethnic minority, the SDP chief said these attacks "are not isolated cases."

"Unfortunately, this was only one (of a number of) attacks on Serbs in Croatia during the rule of the incumbent government, but this comes as no surprise to me, because we have a government that tolerates the use of the Ustasha salute "For the Homeland, Ready!", Bernardić said.

On the other hand, "we have Serb representatives in Croatia who, instead of protecting Croatian Serbs, they are protecting the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and sit in the same government with them," Bernardić said.

More news about the status of Serbs in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 21, 2019 - Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić on Wednesday stated that the police investigation into the affairs of former administration minister MP Lovro Kuščević (HDZ), confirms that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković should have replaced Kuščević earlier due to serious suspicion of corruption.

Bernardić underscored that because of cases like this SDP insists on implementing its anti-corruption plan against "ministers and state officials becoming richer while people are emigrating from Croatia due to the poor standard or have to dig in dumpsters." It is absurd that Kuščević was in fact rewarded by being sent back to his seat in parliament regardless of the scandal surrounding him.

"Plenković has to realise that he has to act as a prime minister and protect the interests of Croatian citizens and not behave as an errand boy for the European People's Party," Bernardić said.

Reporters were interested in Bernardić's opinion regarding media headlines that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had accepted a suggestion by Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić not to keep using the expression "Great Serbia aggression," with Bernardić saying that it was without a doubt that an aggression had occurred against Croatia.

"If the allegations are correct that the president listened to that advice to not speak about the truth in the Homeland War, then it is up to the president to make a statement about that," said Bernardić and added that it would be interesting to see what the prime minister and leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) had to say about that as "she will be their presidential candidate."

Asked how much the SDP intends to invest in the presidential campaign, Bernardić said that Zoran Milanović would have a very modest campaign.

"SDP will show that it doesn't squander money, but acts rationally. Zoran Milanović will be the next president of Croatia and we believe that we can restore its reputation and dignity. The president's office is an exceptionally important institution. In order to restore trust in institutions we have to restore trust in the president's office, which has been lost for now," he said.

Bernardić supported workers in the health and education sectors who are demanding a wage increase. "Wages in the health and education sectors are too low and need to be increased. It is not clear why the government has for a year been ignoring our proposals to increase wages for everyone, why the rich are being given tax reliefs, why the prime minister and parliament speaker's wages are being increase while at the same time wages are not being increased for those who are exposed the most to migration challenges and they are physicians, pharmacists and IT experts," Bernardić underlined.

More SDP news can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 15, 2019 - A member of parliament and former Social Democrat deputy prime minister and social policy minister, Milanka Opačić, has joined the Labour and Solidarity Party of Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandić.

According to information available on the parliament's website, Opačić ceased to be an independent member of parliament on August 12, continuing her term as a member of Bandić's party.

Opacic left the Social Democratic Party in 2018. A month after her departure, she joined the parliamentary group of Bandić's party as an independent member of parliament.

She was unavailable for comment on the reason for her decision to join Bandić's party.

Former Social Democrat health minister and former SDP member Siniša Varga, too, has joined Bandić's party.

On Tuesday, Varga wrote on his Facebook wall that he would be appointed the head of the steering board of the City of Zagreb emergency medical service.

More politics news can be found in the dedicated section.