Zagreb - Ahead of the vote on the new Minister of Agriculture on Tuesday, MP Marijan Pavliček (Croatian Sovereignists) called on the ruling majority to dissolve Parliament and call new elections instead of appointing a new minister.
"The parliamentary majority, and therefore the government, will depend on a gunman - someone who shoots firearms without a permit and hands them to minors," Pavliček said, referring to former Agriculture Minister Josip Dabro, who has returned to the parliament. Dabro was dismissed after a video surfaced showing him firing a gun through the window of a moving car.
"The ruling majority has fallen so low that they depend on someone who has clearly committed multiple criminal offences," Pavliček added, criticising the Homeland Movement (DP) party for attempting to justify Dabro's actions.
Benčić: Vote exposes government's fragile majority
MP Sandra Benčić (We Can!) argued that the vote on the new minister is not just about agriculture but a test of the prime minister’s parliamentary majority, which, she said, relies on political opportunism and deal-making.
"When the government depends on individuals like Dabro to secure its 76th vote, when the stability of the state is tied to political defectors and unprincipled agreements, we cannot talk about stable governance but rather about a government surviving through political manoeuvring," Benčić said.
She also criticised the appointment of the new minister, who, she said, "has never worked in agriculture" yet will oversee "the largest EU-funded sector, which directly impacts food prices."
HDZ MP Danica Baričević dismissed opposition criticism, recalling "internal conflicts and scandals" within the SDP-led coalition government from 2011 to 2015.
"Newspapers wrote that the government was like a train station - nine ministers left due to conflicts and scandals, with some still facing repercussions years later," Baričević said.
She insisted that the HDZ-led coalition remains stable and united, adding that the government’s results "speak for themselves".
MP: State that cannot ensure dignified life for its citizens should not exist
Meanwhile, MP Anka Mrak Taritaš (GLAS) highlighted concerning statistics from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, revealing that one in five people in Croatia was at risk of poverty last year.
"If it weren’t for social benefits, nearly one in four would be in this risk category," she warned, calling these figures "a devastating indicator of the government's failure".
She stressed that helping citizens in need is "not an act of charity, but the state's duty."
"A country that cannot ensure a dignified life for all its citizens does not deserve to be called a country and might as well cease to exist. And a government that allows 60% of pensioners to live at risk of poverty has no right to exist," Mrak Taritaš said.
MP Ivica Baksa (Centre/NPS) sarcastically remarked that the government has finally solved the problem of illegal migration - by making Croatia so expensive that even migrants no longer want to come.
"(Bridge MP) Miro Bulj can now relax - he won’t have to organise village patrols. And tourists will flee just like migrants because Croatia is becoming too expensive for them as well," Baksa added.