Nenad Piskac's column criticizes Croatian political elites for liberalizing hazardous waste imports and their link to fires, warning of the detrimental effects of investing in Serbian ethno-business.
In a column published on Cronika.hr, author Nenad Piskac sharply criticizes Croatian political elites for liberalizing hazardous waste imports and their connection to the deliberate fires that have hit Dalmatia and the islands in recent days. Piskac notes that in the last two hours while writing, it is easier to breathe because no new fires have been reported nor new hazardous waste dumps discovered.
The author emphasizes that Croatia is the only European Union country without a waste incinerator, nor even much less sophisticated forms of waste management for various types of waste. "We know, we are the only ones in the EU without an incinerator, nor even much less sophisticated forms of waste management," writes Piskac. He warns that if the state does not manage waste properly, the mafia takes over.
Piskac explains how a liberal regime for hazardous waste imports is possible without political support: "Someone had to propose a law to the legislator allowing for the liberalization of imports, then the Parliament in some convocation had to accept a law that is bad for Croatia or a law with a built-in legal loophole." He adds that anyone with privileged information about legal and sub-legal loopholes can enter the waste import business, agricultural products, or labor force.
Piskac points out that local actors entered the hazardous waste import business with the support of "bigger bad guys and gals from national armchairs." "Local bad guys could not enter the hazardous waste import and storage business without the support of bigger bad guys and gals from national armchairs," the author states.
The liberalization of imports was legally arranged during Milanovic's government and ministers Mirela Holy and Mihael Zmajlovic, while the heads of the relevant department were Plenkovic's ministers: Tomislav Coric, Davor Filipovic, Damir Habijan, and Marija Vuckovic. "Some prepared, others implemented. If the first ones made a mistake, and they did, the others should have corrected it, but they didn't," writes Piskac.
The author also mentions the "Sincak network" with an unknown number of hazardous waste dumpsites and the "Pupovac network" with forty new centers. "You don't know which is the bigger problem, these two networks or the Croatian political elites," Piskac emphasizes, adding that Croatian political elites largely originate from the SKH (League of Communists of Croatia) and to a lesser extent from the SKJ (League of Communists of Yugoslavia).
Piskac links the fires to the liberalization of relations with Serbia, including visa liberalization, bilateral agreements on "cooperation" between state prosecutor's offices, and a "shared cultural space" that includes figures like Serbedzija, Brena, Prijovicka, and Karleusa. "Through facilitated visa-free connections between local pyromaniacs and the 'homeland' and vice versa, and especially through enormous financing of the implementers of the 'Serbian world,' Croatia has entered a schizophrenic self-destruction," the author states.
Piskac raises key questions: "Has the Government adopted any urgent temporary or permanent decision/measure to ban hazardous waste imports, and secondly, does the government have an action plan on how to counter the doctrine of the 'Serbian world' in Croatia." He warns that investing in Serbian ethno-business is as detrimental to Croatia as investing in hazardous waste imports. "State investment in Serbian ethno-business is as detrimental to Croatia as investment in hazardous waste imports," Piskac concludes.
The column was published on August 16, 2026, and the source is Hrvatsko nebo.
