We Can! Demands Snap Elections
The Karlovac branch of We Can! accuses Prime Minister Plenković and HDZ of covering up an environmental disaster, demanding urgent remediation, drastic penalties, and government accountability.
The Karlovac branch of We Can! accuses Prime Minister Plenković and HDZ of covering up an environmental disaster, demanding urgent remediation, drastic penalties, and government accountability.
The local We Can! platform in Karlovac held a press conference on Thursday, August 13, 2026, demanding urgent remediation of the landfill, drastic penalties for those responsible, an emergency session of the Croatian Parliament, and political accountability from the government, including the calling of snap parliamentary elections. The trigger was the environmental disaster in Gospić and the broader pollution of the Lika region, which, as Radio Mrežnica reports, has been the country's main topic for days.
Speaking at the conference were MP Draženka Polović, county assembly member Dubravko Golubić, and city council member Dobriša Adamec. Their message was clear: protecting nature is not a matter of luxury or ideology, but a fundamental question of survival. They described Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's remarks that the pollution is a "non-issue" as cynical and arrogant, stressing that this is literally a matter of life and death.
MP Polović warned that Karlovac has every reason to be cautious. "We are witnessing the normalization of seriously compromised drinking water. The quality of our rivers is also under threat. Illegal waste dumps are scattered across the entire county. Green spaces are being systematically and deliberately reduced and replaced with concrete. Croatia has capitulated on the Gospić case, and we citizens must not silently witness this happening," Polović said from the Karlovac Promenade.
She called on the citizens of Karlovac and the county to take an active role in environmental protection. "If you notice an environmental incident or illegal waste, take a photo and send us a report at [email protected]. We commit to forwarding every report to the relevant institutions and insisting on accountability," Polović said.
County assembly member Dubravko Golubić presented a detailed chronology of environmental threats that We Can! has continuously raised in the County Assembly. Among the main pollution factors, he highlighted excessive construction without adequate sewage infrastructure near rivers, causing wastewater discharge into the karst area. This case has been documented in caves along the Korana River, and recently in Primišlje due to the high number of tourists.
Golubić also listed a series of concrete examples of systemic neglect. "In Lasinja, waste is illegally dumped in forests just a few hundred meters from the Kupa River, and citizens who report it face verbal abuse because inspections reveal their identities. For years, the Radonja River has been turbid, and when citizens file regular complaints, inspections cynically blame beavers, while the operation of the Lešće hydropower plant continues to devastate the Dobra River, where poor bacteriological results have also been recorded. In Karlovac itself, carcinogenic railway sleepers impregnated with creosote are stored just 200 meters from a water protection zone," Golubić warned.
He placed special emphasis on the Babina Gora Waste Management Center. "We are concerned that the Center's registration, which was designed for mixed municipal waste, also mentions 'management of special waste categories.' We strongly oppose any possibility that hazardous or medical waste resulting from criminal activities in Gospić could end up at Babina Gora," Golubić said.
City council member Dobriša Adamec drew a direct parallel between the government's response to the Gospić disaster and the long-standing behavior of HDZ authorities in Karlovac. "HDZ's pattern is always the same: accuse the opposition of 'spreading panic' and assure the public that everything is fine. That's what they told us in 2024 about Karlovac's water, and today, two years later, citizens still don't have clean and safe drinking water," Adamec emphasized.
He pointed out that HDZ's party machinery and inspections systematically cover up the problem, while independent analyses regularly reveal the true, alarming state of affairs. "Years of poor management have allowed hazardous metals to accumulate in the pipelines, which now regularly end up in citizens' taps. This is currently the biggest health threat in the city, and the authorities lack both the knowledge and the will to solve it," Adamec concluded.
Golubić also highlighted the slow construction and improper organization of works on the flood protection system, which was supposed to include the right bank of the Kupa downstream from Kamensko, as well as the negative impacts of quarries on nature and watercourses.
