Možemo coordinator Sandra Benčić on Saturday demanded urgent remediation and political accountability from the illegal hazardous waste dump in Gospić, accusing institutions of failing to respond to the environmental threat for a year and a half.
Možemo party coordinator Sandra Benčić on Saturday called on the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition to "act immediately" at the illegal hazardous waste dump in Gospić and initiate urgent remediation. From the site she described as the scene of the biggest ecocide in recent decades, she asserted that the resulting damage would be paid for by generations.
"This is a place where the Croatian state allowed its capitulation. And a capitulation in favor of profit that remained in private pockets. And the damage remains, not only for the citizens of Gospić-and it is immeasurable damage-but also financial damage for all citizens of the Republic of Croatia who will have to pay for the remediation," Benčić stated.
She emphasized that institutions knew about the illegal dumping but did nothing. "For at least a year and a half, the ministry has known that waste was being illegally dumped here and that there might also be hazardous waste whose chemicals could seep into groundwater," she added.
Benčić stressed that the Ministry had done nothing in that year and a half to remediate the site. "Now they say we have to wait because they need to go to public procurement. They wouldn't need to go to public procurement if they had started remediation immediately upon learning about it, given the urgency. But because they've been 'sitting' on that information for a year and a half without doing anything, we won't be able to use the exception to European rules that allows us to skip public procurement due to urgency," she explained.
She also recalled recently published data on contamination. "Yesterday and the day before, we heard terrible data that, unfortunately, hazardous chemicals have leaked into groundwater and were found downstream. These are so-called forever chemicals. Fortunately, the tap water for Gospić residents is still of good quality," Benčić said.
In addition to urgent remediation, Benčić also demanded accountability from those in charge. "We also demand that the Minister, as well as everyone else in the chain, including the State Inspectorate, bear political responsibility. This is a consequence of corruption; this is a consequence of the HDZ's model of governing Croatia. The damage that has occurred here at this site is damage that will be paid for by generations," she said.
She concluded with a call to citizens: "And that's why we must tell them-stop, that's why we must tell them-goodbye."
