While authorities insist they responded in a timely manner and that remediation is underway, the opposition and a local initiative accuse institutions of a year and a half of silence and complicity in ecocide.
Monday, August 10, 2026, brought a new development in the case of the illegal hazardous waste landfill in Gospić that has been shaking the Croatian public for months. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Green Transition published a detailed chronology of its actions, while President Zoran Milanović also spoke out on social media, sharply criticizing the government and calling for urgent remediation.
Milanović was direct in his Facebook post. "Illegal, indeed criminal, disposal of hazardous waste in Lika, near Gospić, must begin to be remediated urgently. The Government of the Republic of Croatia can no longer hide behind procedures and public tenders, as it is now doing, because people's health is undoubtedly at risk and there is a threat of permanent pollution of the area," the president wrote. He also called out the now-dismissed chief state inspector, noting that everything happened with his assistance.
The president also emphasized the lack of accountability for what he called ecocide. "No one has yet been held accountable for this: neither the company that disposed of hazardous European waste in Lika, nor the state institutions that should have prevented it but did not," Milanović said. His address came a day after MP Marija Selak Raspudić publicly called on him to intervene institutionally.
Minister of Environmental Protection and Green Transition Marija Vučković acknowledged the complexity of the situation in her statements. "It's not easy, but we have taken on the obligation and responsibility for the remediation, and we know we will succeed if we are persistent," the minister said. However, her communication with critics has not been without controversy. On social media, the minister engaged in polemics with Gospić Mayor Darko Milinović, MP Zvonimir Troskot (Most), and MP Dušica Radojčić (Možemo!).
She accused Troskot, who has filed multiple criminal complaints over illegal waste in Lika, including against her, of spreading untruths. At the same time, defending her work, she noted that during the period when waste was being brought in, she was involved in agriculture, support for family farms, building farms in Banovina after the earthquake, and rescuing pig farmers from African swine fever. Critics deemed such a diversion from the topic inappropriate given the severity of the environmental disaster in Lika.
While the Ministry claims it responded in a timely manner and that remediation preparations could not have started earlier due to USKOK's investigative actions, critics have a completely different view. The citizens' initiative "Gospić je naš dom" has been warning about the disaster for months and fighting administrative obstacles. Only after their persistent pressure, at the end of July 2026, a meeting was held with Deputy Prime Minister Branko Bačić and Minister Vučković, which some in the public characterized as forced.
Opposition MPs and the initiative accuse institutions of remaining silent for a year and a half and doing nothing to prevent further poisoning of the soil and groundwater. The case is even more inflammatory because the Šincek couple has been charged with illegal disposal of hazardous waste.
MP Dušica Radojčić (Možemo!), who also chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Protection and Nature, has called a committee session for August 14, 2026, to be held in Gospić. Invited to attend are Minister Vučković, Health Minister Irena Hrstić, Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Luka Balen, Deputy Chief State Inspector Ivan Samac, Lika-Senj County Prefect Ernest Petry, and Gospić Mayor Darko Milinović. The session will also vote on a proposal for a public hearing of all the aforementioned officials.
