‘Message and Warning to Those in Authority’

If parliament and government are two institutions of the same authority, why is ‘inappropriate’ language tolerated in one and not the other?

ZAGREB, CROATIA – If writing in the English language on a t-shirt is an insult to the government, then what is calling a colleague member of parliament a baboon, not to mention other messages MPs regularly send each other? 

The way in which members of parliament express themselves can at the least be called inappropriate for the institution in which they sit and for the function they carry. But apart from a warning from the speaker, that is if he can hear everything the MPs are saying, their verbal escapades go unpunished and the public has learnt not to expect more civilised dialogues in parliament.

We wanted to know if MPs would find themselves offended like Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor if a member of the media came into parliament with a t-shirt that read “I don’t need sex, my government f…. me every day”.

- The very comparison of events in the government and parliament is inappropriate because they are two bodies that function on different principles. Parliament is a political speaker’s stand where people with different political views and goals hold discussions. Such behaviour is an unusual occurrence in the government. But such a t-shirt in parliament would be nothing too unusual and would not invoke such comments – MP of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zeljka Antunovic, said.

There is no difference in the conduct of members of parliament and what had been done at the government session. Considering that there should be accord between the dignity of the institution and the dignity of a person, I see no reason why a private person should not be allowed to wear such a t-shirt.

Political scientist Slobodan Hadzic

But is it really so? In the original idea of dividing authority into three, although the executive, legislative and judicial authorities are independent, they also serve as mechanisms of control of each other and are (in theory) equal.

If we take into consideration the insults during parliamentary discussions, outbursts such as the recent MP calling another a baboon, is the old Latin saying “quod licet lovis, non licet bovis” (What is allowed for Jupiter is not allowed for a cow) valid for the government and parliament?

Zeljka ANtunovic says nothing could insult her, adding that for her, the hypothetical situation of wearing a t-shirt such as the one that stirred passions in the government, is “more an issue of an appropriate dress code than the content”. Also, even though she thinks such language inappropriate for parliament, she justifies is by sometimes fierce discussions and defending certain stances in which insults are thrown when people forget that they are under the vigilant eye of the public.

A matter of democratic deficit? 

- It is a matter of democratic standards. Democratic tradition in Croatia is not long, so there is not as much tolerance – Boris Sprem, also an MP of the SDP, told us. But he stressed that personally, he would not wear such t-shirts in parliament, however, seeing somebody wear one would not bother him.

- It would be a message and warning to me personally as a person in authority – he concluded briefly.

MP of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) Vesna Pusic agrees that PM Kosor’s reaction to the t-shirt was exaggerated, but believes that the circumstances were quite different.

- It is one thing when somebody insults you personally, the dignity of the institution is at stake. It is another matter altogether when the insult is being sent generally – Pusic said, adding that it would perhaps have ben better for the prime minister to have turned the situation into a joke, perhaps with a question whether the t-shirt was referring to her or the previous government.

Since MPs were elected by the citizens and as they entered parliament they started being called members of parliament for a reason, institutional dignity should be the same for all three branches of government, for the legislative and executive officials alike.

Let’s make an agreement: What is tolerated and where and what is not? 

Political scientist and communicologist Slobodan Hadzic put the dignity of an institution into the correct context, making no difference between the cameraman who was doing his job and expression his opinion and members of parliament who also do their work and express their opinions in sometimes much insulting ways. Did not the aforementioned cameraman therefore just go around MPs and sent the message he meant, just without a mediator?

- There is no difference in the conduct of members of parliament and what had been done at the government session. Considering that there should be accord between the dignity of the institution and the dignity of a person, I see no reason why a private person should not be allowed to wear such a t-shirt – professor Hadzic said. Still, he added that what happened at the government is not appropriate, just as it is not appropriate what goes on in parliament, but in order to avoid further misunderstanding, there should be some agreement as to what is tolerated and what is not.

Cameraman Ivan Cvirn, who was fired from his job for “inappropriate conduct in government” decided to sell his t-shirt with the writing “I don’t need sex, the government f…. me every day” at an auction and give the money for charity. He offered the t-shirt on the aukcije.hr website for auction where it reached the price of 2,210 kuna by 9pm Sunday.

‘Sex Scandal’ in Government Puts Shame on Croatia