Milanović Considers Emergency Session on Waste in Lika
The President could decide on convening the session within the next few days, while the opposition, excluding Most, plans a meeting in Gospić.
The President could decide on convening the session within the next few days, while the opposition, excluding Most, plans a meeting in Gospić.
President of the Republic Zoran Milanović is currently considering the possibility of convening an emergency session of the Croatian Parliament, with the topic being the illegal waste disposal in Lika. This information, although unofficial, comes from sources close to the President's Office and is reported by Novi list. A decision could be made very soon, within the next few days. When asked by Hina whether the session would be convened, the President's Office had not responded by the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the opposition is preparing for a meeting in Gospić scheduled for Friday, which is to be held on the sidelines of the session of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental and Nature Protection. The meeting was initiated by SDP leader Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, but it seems that Most will not attend. As Novi list writes, Most has decided to act independently and will not join the joint actions of the rest of the opposition. They have already prepared their own motion for a vote of no confidence in the government and sent it to all parliamentary clubs. Additionally, Most has sent to parliamentary clubs a proposal for a request to the Speaker of Parliament, Gordan Jandroković, to convene an emergency session due to the Lika affair, seeking signatures for a political determination of responsibility. From Most, they say they do not want to wait for the President of the Republic and will bring the proposal to Gospić on Friday, seeking signatures from club representatives for both the emergency session and the no-confidence vote.
"Most was the first to come up with the idea of a no-confidence vote; the opposition is acting together. However, they have gone their own way and want to push their coalition story, which is fine, but it makes no sense for us to go to some meeting of theirs now," said Nikola Grmoja, a representative of Most, for Novi list.
In the proposal for the emergency session, Most cites Article 79, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia and Article 220, Paragraph 2 of the Standing Orders of the Croatian Parliament, and it is also stated that all its signatories will present and explain the proposal in the debate.
If Most or the rest of the opposition manage to gather enough signatures for a debate on a no-confidence vote, it could, in the best-case scenario, be placed on the agenda of the first day of the fall session of Parliament, which is September 13. However, since a one-month deadline is set for the vote, the actual debate on the government in Parliament could take place only around mid-October. By then, public interest in this topic could significantly wane.
President Milanović could speed up the process if he decides to convene an emergency session with a single agenda item, a vote of confidence in the government. Although the SDP does not plan to ask the President for such a move, other opposition leaders who recently criticized Milanović for passivity might do so. According to unofficial information, at Pantovčak they believe that including a no-confidence vote would be too deep an interference by the President in political relations in Croatia.
According to unofficial information from Novi list, the President's Office is seriously considering convening an emergency session, but not on confidence in the government, but on the specific problem of illegal waste disposal in Lika, as well as other similar cases in Croatia. Such a precedent was seen in 2023, when an emergency session was convened due to the strike in the judiciary. At that time, President Milanović told MPs that he was "giving them the keys to the hall," but he did not attend the session.
On Tuesday, the parliamentary majority met to consolidate ranks, while Prime Minister Andrej Plenković simultaneously tried to reassure the public regarding illegal waste disposal.
A call for an emergency session also came from MP and president of the party Drito, Marija Selak Raspudić. She officially asked Milanović to convene the session, citing the recent report of the State Attorney's Office on the consequences of illegal disposal of hazardous waste in Lika. Selak Raspudić warns that soil and water contamination could seriously endanger the health of the residents of Lika and all of Croatia, and she demands a concrete remediation plan, financial resources, and deadlines. "All state institutions must act in the interest of citizens, and the Croatian Parliament has a special responsibility," she said.
Well-known PR expert Thomas Bauer believes this affair is politically extremely dangerous for the government. "Since the fall of Andrija Mikulić, there is command responsibility that cannot simply be swept under the rug," Bauer points out, adding that ecology is currently the strongest topic with which the opposition can seriously shake the government. He also warns that the timing of opening the topic is very favorable, as mid-August is a period of reduced political activity, allowing the affair to gain greater media attention.
Recall, the case from Gospić came into the spotlight in early August when USKOK published the findings and opinion of an environmental expert for the location of the industrial complex in Gospić, Bilajska 50. At that location, 37,000 tons of waste of various compositions were found, including hazardous, ecotoxic waste, and analyses confirmed extremely elevated concentrations of harmful substances such as copper, zinc, lead, and antimony.
