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Zagreb - Croatian opposition parties used the Prime Minister's annual report to Parliament on Wednesday as an opportunity to draw attention to weaknesses in the Government's work, primarily those concerning public healthcare, clientelism, and corruption.
"When we need it the most, our health system has reached a breaking point. We are seeing unprecedented amateurism and sloppiness," said Anka Mrak-Taritaš of the Civic Liberal Alliance, citing the situation at Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital.
"The staff and patients, and not just in that hospital, speak of the lack of food, medicines, and equipment and of a dual chain of command," she said, asking the Prime Minister what he and Health Minister Vili Beroš had been doing since the outbreak of COVID-19 in early spring.
"The health minister found time for photo opportunities, he spared no energy in engaging in rows with doctors, so of course there was no time to check electricity for ventilators at KB Dubrava," Mrak-Taritaš said.
The largest opposition party, the Social Democratic Party, also criticised the Government for how it was handling the coronavirus outbreak. "Every country is trying to deal with the consequences of COVID-19 in a better or worse way but we, unfortunately, have chosen a worse way, without a plan and without a vision," SDP leader Peđa Grbin said.
As a result, the health minister speaks of "a tsunami of patients" without saying how the country will cope with the crisis, Grbin said.
"There is no clear programme listing steps the Government will take. The Government is shunning responsibility by hiding behind the national coronavirus response team," the SDP leader said, welcoming a statement that any decision on a lockdown would be taken by Parliament.
Grbin urged the Prime Minister to call a meeting of parliamentary parties "to seek a solution together and avoid a lockdown we are heading into."
The Homeland Movement was also against another lockdown, and Stephen Bartulica pointed the finger at clientelism and corruption, citing the JANAF corruption case as the most recent example. He said he saw the St Mark's Square shooting as yet another attempt to use a tragedy for political purposes, and wondered whether Novosti, the weekly of the Serb minority financed by the government, was using "hate speech or love speech" in its articles.