Karamarko slams government for incompetence and inaction

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) President Tomislav Karamarko and other senior officials of this strongest opposition party on Monday criticised the current government led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for "a lack of competence" and inaction, and accused it of "an anti-entrepreneurial climate" and of a political purge as well as of "a lack of patriotism".

"Nothing good is happening and it's time for us to tell the government... that it is high time they began doing something," the HDZ head said at a news briefing.

During the ongoing political purge, the government has removed staff that do not belong to the "Kukuriku" (governing) coalition and have appointed a series of incompetent people claiming that they are young, Karamarko said.

He also criticised the parliament presidency's decision to stop sponsoring the Bleiburg commemorations as "grotesque and hasty" and described the decision to give up the construction of the Peljesac Bridge, which would connect southernmost Croatia with the mainland, as "an unpatriotic act". The HDZ chief also pointed the accusing finger at the SDP-led coalition for "undermining the values from the 1990s".

Damir Jelic said that the decision of Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic to terminate the council for the norms of the standard Croatian language was an attempt to usher in "the so-called Serbo-Croat language".

Davor Stier criticised Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic for failing to give any coherent statement in response to new Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic's anti-Croatian statements.

Domagoj Milosevic said that the government had no plan or solution to the current economic situation, adding that Croatia "is teetering on the brink of collapse".

Davorin Mlakar said that by 6 June, the new parliament had adopted 78 government-sponsored laws and all but one had been passed in the fast-track procedure, which meant that the legislation had been denied quality discussion.

Drago Prgomet criticised the proposed medically assisted insemination legislation which he said failed to embrace the judgement of the European Court of Justice and was in contravention of the international convention on children's rights, which was why he proposed the withdrawal of that draft law from the parliamentary procedure. (HDZ)