Varaždin Mayor Neven Bosilj warns that the hazardous waste case in Gospić directly concerns Varaždin, where around 5,000 tonnes of waste from the same company sit on the site of the former Mundus facility. He demands full transparency, publication of inspection reports and laboratory analyses, and holds the government and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković accountable.
Varaždin Mayor Neven Bosilj (SDP) on Monday, 10 August 2026, sharply criticized the Government of the Republic of Croatia and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković over what he described as a complete failure of the system that led to the environmental disaster involving hazardous waste in Gospić. In a Facebook post, he also warned that the issue directly concerns Varaždin, where around 5,000 tonnes of waste from the same company sit at the former Mundus site.
Bosilj expressed sympathy for the residents of Lika who, as he said, have become victims of "serious crime under the patronage of state institutions that are fully controlled by the HDZ." He particularly highlighted the role of Andrija Mikulić, Chief State Inspector and Director of the State Inspectorate, the institution that was supposed to prevent the import and disposal of hazardous waste.
"Because what else is it when Andrija Mikulić, the HDZ's chief state inspector and director of the State Inspectorate, the institution that should be stopping these monsters who import European hazardous waste and dump it across Lika and other parts of Croatia, becomes part of a scandal precisely within the system that he was personally chosen and appointed to lead by the Croatian Prime Minister and HDZ president?" Bosilj asked.
The mayor also raised a series of questions about how 37,000 tonnes of hazardous waste could have passed through Croatia without any police reaction. "Where was the intelligence community, which in a well-functioning system should have known about such schemes? Who controls the clearly corrupt officials in county offices issuing waste management permits?" Bosilj wondered, adding that answers to these questions do little to ease the situation for the residents of Gospić and Lika who fear for their health.
Bosilj made it clear that "the most responsible for this situation is none other than Andrej Plenković and his government, for whom Andrija Mikulić was a prominent and important figure." He also claimed that Plenković and his Minister of Justice Damir Habjan, former president of the Varaždin City Council, had four years of joint mandate to solve the problem of Varaždin's waste bales, but failed to do so.
"Let's write the truth one more time: the Varaždin bales were resolved by a team under my leadership, a full 6 years after Plenković was already Prime Minister and his current Minister of Justice Damir Habjan had been president of the Varaždin City Council for a full 4 years. One would say they had time to solve it in their joint 4 years, but they didn't. They didn't because they didn't know how," Bosilj wrote.
He stressed that the City of Varaždin carried out the entire remediation process, from creating the solution and international public tender to selecting the bidder, with the government only getting involved in the final phase by accepting the request to finance the removal with public funds through the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. "Varaždin is not an extraterritorial area in the Republic of Croatia, some kind of enclave that should beg for mercy from some central authority," he said, adding that it is an old Croatian city with a rich history and a dynamic economy.
Bosilj warned that the Gospić case is not isolated and directly concerns Varaždin. "Part of the waste, around 5,000 tonnes from the same company, is also located at the former Mundus site in Varaždin. After everything we know today about Gospić and Lika, the citizens of Varaždin have every right to demand that it be finally and unequivocally determined what was at that location," he emphasized.
He demands from the State Inspectorate the reports that the City, as he claims, has not received so far, as well as data on waste and soil sampling. "We don't need assurances that everything is fine; we need the State Inspectorate's reports that they refuse to provide, we need samples, laboratory findings, and full transparency of results. After remediation, groundwater should also be analyzed," Bosilj stressed, adding that after everything seen in Gospić, no one has the right to ask citizens to take institutions at their word.
In conclusion, he reiterated his support for the people of Lika in their fight for the right to a healthy life and the urgent removal of hazardous waste. "The government should immediately and right now show that it has a solution for this problem, which arose in the embrace of high-level HDZ politics and crime," Bosilj concluded, saying that "PR episodes and tricks, empty excuses from Minister Vučković" and shifting responsibility to other institutions will not help citizens.
