ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - The Social Democrats (SDP) are the most responsible for the state of affairs and the blockade of the political and economic situation, the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said on
Tuesday. He added the incumbent authorities had utterly failed and that early elections were the only way out.
ZAGREB, July 2 (Hina) - The Social Democrats (SDP) are the most
responsible for the state of affairs and the blockade of the
political and economic situation, the president of the Croatian
Democratic Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said on Tuesday. He added the
incumbent authorities had utterly failed and that early elections
were the only way out.#L#
The ruling coalition is not only incapable of resolving problems
but has even deepened them, Sanader told reporters. He said a
minority government would be an even worse solution as it would last
a month or two and then plunge the incumbent authorities into an
even worse situation.
Even if the current crisis was overcome, a new one would follow
soon, Sanader said, adding that such a situation was not good for
Croatia and had to be resolved as soon as possible.
Sanader maintains the coalition government has not been
functioning for months. The issue of the head of intelligence
services has not been settled, nor has a solution been found for
unemployment, which has decreased only mildly thanks to seasonal
jobs, he said.
As for open issues with Slovenia, Sanader believes they can be
settled. He said, however, that following Prime Minister Ivica
Racan's attempts to reach an agreement with Slovene colleague Janez
Drnovsek without the knowledge of the ruling coalition partners,
only arbitration was possible as the Croatian government and
foreign ministry had no vision of how to break the stalemate.
Sanader reiterated the HDZ would be against the ratification of a
contentious deal with Slovenia on the Krsko nuclear power plant. He
said it was possible to ratify the deal by a simply majority vote,
i.e. 39 of 150 MPs, but stressed this was inadmissible. The deal is
an inter-state agreement and should be ratified by a two-thirds
majority vote, he said.
Asked about possible cooperation with other parties, Sanader said
the HDZ was open for post-electoral cooperation with centre and
rights centre options. He did not exclude the Croatian Party of
Rights (HSP), despite the turn of events in Vukovar, where a HDZ-HSP
coalition was dissolved.
Sanader categorically denied that the HDZ would form a coalition
with Racan's SDP or the Croatian People's Party (HNS). As for
cooperation with the other ruling coalition parties, he said it was
premature to talk about it.
His message to the Croatian True Revival (HIP) party president,
Miroslav Tudjman, and Democratic Centre (DC) leader Mate Granic was
that they should not be concerned about the fate of the HDZ,
particularly following the success at recent local elections in
Kasteli, Baranja, and Varazdin County. If they wish to form
coalitions with the HDZ in the future, they should stop with
insinuations, he said.
(hina) ha sb