At a press conference, the Prime Minister downplayed the environmental scandal, accused the opposition of hysteria, and announced the introduction of the criminal offense of ecocide, while remediation of the illegal landfill at PKK Velebit has yet to begin.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković addressed the public on Tuesday after an emergency meeting of the ruling coalition, sending a message that all those who speak of an ecological bomb in Lika "in the middle of summer" do not actually wish Croatia well. While he assured citizens that drinking water in Gospić is safe, he blamed the opposition and the media for the problems, and offered few concrete answers about the start of remediation of 37,000 tons of waste at the PKK Velebit site.
Plenković began the conference by dividing the entire case into three levels. The first is criminal-legal, led by DORH and USKOK, about which he said he does not know the details. The second concerns remediation, for which the Environmental Protection Fund and the Ministry of Environmental Protection are responsible. The third he called "politicking," claiming that the opposition is trying to score political points by spreading panic.
"I fully understand the opposition; they saw polls where trends have changed, so they are using the situation to regain some kind of media attention," the Prime Minister stated. He then listed his government's economic achievements: a better tourist season, slowing inflation, regulation of fuel and gas prices, and the announcement of an increase in veterans' pensions from January 2027. "All injustices against veterans have been corrected in this way," he added.
Regarding the remediation itself, the Prime Minister revealed that of the total approximately 37,000 tons of waste, as much as 32,000 tons are buried, while about 5,000 tons are on the surface. "When it comes to buried waste, its characteristics, given its content, can be classified as containing certain hazardous waste, so we must find suitable companies capable of disposing of such waste. Croatia does not have them. The Fund has contacted as many as 70 entities across the EU that deal with this," Plenković said.
The first public call for remediation did not attract a single interested contractor, and the procedure is now being repeated. The Prime Minister emphasized that the state will financially recover costs from the perpetrators of the criminal acts. "Those who committed these criminal acts will not only answer in criminal proceedings, but the state will later, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act, turn to them and seek financial compensation for the funds used for remediation," he said.
Krunoslav Capak from the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) was also at the meeting, and it was agreed that water quality will be continuously monitored and reports published every three days. "We have now told you that drinking water is fine according to the standards of the Croatian Institute of Public Health," Plenković said.
When a journalist countered that some Gospić residents still buy water daily because they are frightened, the Prime Minister responded: "People are frightened because hysteria is being created, which the opposition does for its own political interests." He told citizens not to "succumb to the hysteria and panic of the opposition."
The Prime Minister also announced legislative changes. A working group is drafting amendments to the chapter of the Criminal Code on criminal offenses against the environment, and the criminal offense of ecocide will also be introduced. "The working group will propose a series of activities; we would also introduce 'especially serious criminal offenses against the environment,' just as we introduced the criminal offense of femicide, and we would also introduce 'ecocide' into the Criminal Code," Plenković stated.
He also recalled his government's earlier successes in solving waste problems: the Varaždin bales were removed with €29 million, Crno brdo near Biljani Donji was remediated for €14 million, and Salonit for €7 million. "So, just as we have solved problems for different types of waste at various locations in Croatia so far, this location at PKK Velebit in Gospić will also be resolved, but calmly, rationally, professionally, responsibly, without hysteria and drama, unlike what the opposition suggests," he said.
Journalists also asked the Prime Minister about the former Chief State Inspector, Andrija Mikulić, his personal personnel choice, whom the Šincek couple had pointed to. Plenković said he cannot comment on the criminal proceedings, and when asked whether he feels responsibility because he appointed him, he replied: "Anyone who is appointed is appointed to work in accordance with the law. Those who do not will be held accountable-some politically, and some also criminally."
Mikulić was dismissed just a few hours before his arrest, but at the time, Plenković did not link this to the Gospić scandal. When asked why a new Chief State Inspector has not yet been appointed, he said that acting director Ivan Samac is running the office and that the appointment will follow "when they assess that it is necessary."
At the end of the conference, the Prime Minister once again summarized his stance, saying that "the hysteria is being created by the opposition and the media, who have no other topics, if I may be quite precise." He also announced that MPs from the ruling majority would gladly come to Gospić for a session of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental and Nature Protection, and that the government is preparing a new waste management law, which will be on the agenda in September.
"As for the stability of the coalition, given the various opposition initiatives to oust the government, the coalition is extremely stable; there are no doubts whatsoever. Everyone who was at the meeting today-and literally everyone was-expressed support for the functioning of the government and the ruling majority," Plenković concluded.
