ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Calling for party unity, the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said at a party convention in Zagreb on Sunday that his party was ready to win the next parliamentary
election.
ZAGREB, April 21 (Hina) - Calling for party unity, the president of
the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said at a party
convention in Zagreb on Sunday that his party was ready to win the
next parliamentary election. #L#
Croatia and the HDZ are more important than our mutual differences,
Sanader said at the party's 7th electoral assembly, submitting his
report on the party's work since the last convention.
In the past two years, the HDZ was exposed to attempts by the ruling
coalition, headed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to cause
disunity in its ranks, however, the HDZ succeeded in resisting all
pressures, he said.
Sanader criticised the work of the government and the President of
State. The government and the President, he said, have maligned the
HDZ, but they proved to be incapable of solving economic and social
problems and only deepened them. Croatia does not deserve a
government as incompetent as the current one is, he added.
The HDZ, he said, can offer solutions which will stop the negative
trends.
He apologised to all the citizens who during the HDZ's rule suffered
damage due to the party's failures, arrogant behaviour, and wrong
decisions, promising that mistakes would not happen again.
The HDZ will never renounce Homeland War heroes, Sanader said,
adding that general Ante Gotovina was not a criminal but a hero. He
dismissed claims by President Stjepan Mesic that "all sides are
guilty and should apologise to one another", stressing that such
statements constituted historical revisionism that would not be
accepted in Croatia.
Sanader believes that the coalition government will not make it to
the end of the mandate and that his party is ready for any scenario -
from a regular to an early election, as well as that the HDZ has
claimed back its victor mentality.
He categorically dismissed any possibility of entering a coalition
government which would include the SDP.
The party's tasks include claiming back its reputation, caring for
war veterans and victims and Croats in the homeland and abroad,
etc.
The HDZ has a glorious past, but it should also be a party for the
21st century, Sanader said, among else.
(hina) rml sb