Sisljagic: No Coalition With HDZ

The president of HDSSB, Vladimir Sisljagic considers that HDZ and HDSSB are further apart today than they were in the beginning.

At a press conference, the president of HDSSB (Croatian Democratic Congress of Slavonia and Baranja), Vladimir Sisljagic rejected, as he said, some media speculations about a possible coalition with HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union). He stressed that at yesterday’s meeting with the Croatian premier Ivo Sanader, there was no talk of any coalition.

This sort of disinformation in certain media is an attempt to weaken HDSSB, and obviously comes from those who care about such a coalition, and that is certainly not HDSSB said Sisljagic.

He evaluated that today “HDZ and HDSSB are further apart than they were at the beginning”.

As he said, premier Sanader was previously also called to Osijek and the county to help with many problems, because political differences have no connection with development projects.

Sisljavic claims that “HDZ today is at least ten percent weaker than at the elections in 2003”, and that “it is in Osijek and the Osijek-Baranja county that they have lost the great trust of the voters”.

He repeated a number of times that “no conversations about any sort of possibility of a coalition between HDZ and HDSSB took place last night, or at any time”.

When asked by the press, why the meeting in the hotel was also attended by Zlatko Kramaric, Sisljavic answered that he does not know, and that “he obviously walked in at random, and had a cup of coffee at the expense of the city”.

His presence “did not bother me personally, but that is proof that there were o talks of any coalition, because then Kramaric would certainly not be present”.

When asked if Branimir Glavas, who is being treated in the Osijek Hospital, knew about yesterday’s meeting of the heads of HDSSB with premier Sanader and the president of the Croatian parliament, Vladimir Seks, Sisljagic said that he did not know.

“Glavas is being treated in hospital, and we respect the requests of the doctors to ensure rest for him, especially because I am a doctor”, said Sisljagic.

The county mayor Kresimir Bubalo, vice-president of HDSSB, said that there are numerous projects which must be implemented, and that he as mayor, writes to the Cabinet and various offices, ministries, asking for help. He added that he recently participated in a meeting of the Croatian and Hungarian Cabinets in Zagreb, to “prompt the process of solving economic and other important issues for the Osijek-Baranja county, and in doing so, must leave various political options on the side”.