MP Dalija Orešković has issued the harshest criticism yet of the Government and Prime Minister Plenković over hazardous waste disposal, calling for early elections or mass protests.
On Tuesday, August 11, 2026, MP Dalija Orešković publicly accused the Government of Andrej Plenković and the ruling HDZ party of, as she stated, systematically enabling the disposal of hazardous and carcinogenic waste in the Lika and Benkovac regions. In her statement, carried by Nacionalno Plus, Orešković claims that the key responsibility lies not only with individuals facing criminal proceedings, but also with institutions that have "turned a blind eye for years."
To illustrate the scale of the environmental disaster, the MP used a vivid comparison with Zagreb's main square. "If the waste from Gospić were placed on Ban Jelačić Square, it would cover the entire square and be 6 meters high. Think about that image," Orešković said for Nacionalno Plus.
She emphasized that this is not municipal waste, but material that poses a serious threat. "This is not ordinary waste, but waste that cannot be disposed of anywhere in Europe! Now HDZ tells us that no incineration plant in Europe wants this hazardous, carcinogenic poison," the MP stressed. Her claims are supported by information from the remediation process, where potential contractors warned that numerous European facilities refused to accept Gospić's waste precisely because of its toxicity and high chlorine content, which analyses show ranges from 2 to as much as 11.91 percent.
Orešković also directly targeted Prime Minister Plenković, asserting that his administration deliberately exposed citizens and natural resources to long-term pollution for the profit of individuals connected to the government. "Plenković has decreed that the Croatian people will drink and eat all that garbage. Water, food, flora and fauna—HDZ has poisoned them with forever chemicals, all for the profit of HDZ's donors and cronies," she said.
She added that Lika and Benkovac are just some of the known locations so far, warning that other sites will be revealed later. Meanwhile, Minister of Environment and Green Transition Marija Vučković confirmed that the illegal dump at the former PPK Velebit plant in Gospić contains 4,500 tons of hazardous and 650 tons of non-hazardous waste, calling the case a serious criminal offense against the environment. Although the landfill was included in the Waste Management Plan back in May 2025, the first tender for the remediation of the surface layer, valued at €2.1 million, was only published on March 31 this year, and no bids were received.
Concluding her statement, Orešković said that the public's patience has run out and that further institutional dialogue is pointless. "What more is there to talk about? Either early elections or mass protests," the MP said.
On the same day, the HDZ Twitter profile shared a post from the Government of the Republic of Croatia about Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's media statement, but did not directly respond to Orešković's accusations. Minister Vučković, however, said on HRT's evening news that the waste will be remediated in a timely manner and that the Ministry has additional solutions if the current public procurement process fails again. The repeated tender, estimated at €4.72 million, has been extended until August 25, and one potential contractor claimed that even that amount is insufficient, with the real cost of remediation being around €8.1 million. For the buried waste, which poses a significantly more complex problem, the Ministry has contacted more than 60 operators within the European Union, and the Minister also announced the installation of additional monitoring wells to track groundwater and the temporary covering of the waste to prevent further leaching into the soil.
