The Prime Minister faces pressure from the opposition and the president, but the greatest danger comes from within the coalition. The Homeland Movement says the people of Lika cannot afford to wait for bureaucracy.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković finds himself under multiple pressures due to the issue of illegally dumped hazardous waste in Lika. While opposition parties have announced an initiative for his impeachment and the President of the Republic has demanded urgent remediation, unexpectedly sharp criticism has also come from the ranks of the main coalition partner, the Homeland Movement (DP).
DP representative Penava made it clear that the patience of the local population is wearing thin. "The people of Lika have no time to wait for bureaucracy. They have a right to their own health and a healthy environment. They expect to see trucks and urgent remediation of the site," Penava stated. This statement signals a serious rift within the ruling majority on an issue that has sparked widespread public concern. According to reports, the chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental and Nature Protection, Dušica Radojčić from the Možemo! party, has called an emergency session in Gospić for Friday dedicated to this "extraordinary situation," which will also be attended by opposition leaders, including SDP president Siniša Hajdaš Dončić.
The situation has also heated up on the opposition benches. Opposition parties Most, SDP, and Drito have joined forces and announced an initiative for the Prime Minister's impeachment, demanding an urgent extraordinary session of Parliament. SDP MP Mihael Zmajlović presented the party's solution for remediation with four possible models for waste removal and permanent site cleanup, while Hajdaš Dončić wrote on Facebook: "Gospić is not just a waste affair. It is a question of government responsibility. Because this is not the first time this government has shown the same pattern." At the same time, President Zoran Milanović demanded urgent remediation of the landfill, sharply criticizing the government on Facebook for inaction and lack of a swift response. Prime Minister Plenković announced that remediation will only be carried out after the regular public procurement procedure, which could take months. This issue, which was slowly turning into a major political topic, now threatens to become dominant at the start of the autumn session of Parliament in mid-September.
Although the pressure from the opposition and the president is not negligible, political analysts believe that the Prime Minister's biggest problem could be the criticism from his own ranks. The main coalition partner joining the critics calls into question the stability of the coalition and creates additional pressure on the government to accelerate the resolution of this environmental problem that directly threatens the health and environment of the residents of Lika. Let us recall, this concerns as much as 37,000 tons of illegally disposed waste, and until now Plenković had not been exposed to significant political pressure over it, which has now fundamentally changed.
