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Zagreb - Before Prime Minister Andrej Plenković submitted an annual report on the government's work, the parliamentary opposition said on Wednesday what they would like to hear from him, while the ruling HDZ said the government fulfilled its obligations in the challenging past year.
I invite the prime minister, to tell the truth, to fight for the future of the people, not his own, Božo Petrov of Bridge said, predicting that contrary to reality, Plenković would say that almost everything was rosy in Croatia.
Most citizens barely make ends meet and feel injustice, having fought for a country which their children have to leave because they don't have equal opportunities, Petrov said.
In Croatia 23% of people live at risk of poverty and 43% of families barely make ends meet, said Domagoj Hajduković of the Social Democrats club.
Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Peđa Grbin predicted that Plenković's report would portray the situation as his HDZ party would like it to be, but said that was far from the truth.
Noting that Croatia had 4,500 new coronavirus cases today, Grbin said he expected the prime minister to say the gist of the measures Croatia would introduce to stop the fourth wave of the pandemic.
Urša Raukar of the Green-Left Bloc club said today's infection and death numbers were horrifying, and also criticised the government for the slow post-earthquake reconstruction.
Marijan Pavliček of the Sovereignists invited Plenković to sign the party's euro referendum petition. Croatia has been in the EU for eight years yet according to indicators it is still at the bottom, which shows that we are not ready to enter the euro area, he said.
Stipo Mlinarić of the Homeland Movement said he hoped Plenković would talk about the war missing, former POWs' suits against Serbia, war reparations, and stolen cultural assets.
Branko Bačić of the HDZ praised the government's work during the COVID crisis, calling it the most challenging since the Homeland War.
He said that thanks to the government's measures Croatia had the most successful tourist summer in the Mediterranean, adding that HRK 18 billion was paid out for job retention and that GDP growth would exceed 8%.