Radojčić Urges HDZ to Support Public Hearing on Gospić Pollution
Environment Committee Chair convenes session in Gospić over ecological disaster, demands citizens hear the truth about the chain of responsibility and the €125 million remediation.
Environment Committee Chair convenes session in Gospić over ecological disaster, demands citizens hear the truth about the chain of responsibility and the €125 million remediation.
On Monday, August 10, 2026, Dušica Radojčić, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Nature, issued a direct appeal to HDZ MPs to support the organization of a public hearing on the unprecedented pollution in Gospić this Friday. The Committee session is scheduled for August 14 in that very city, where a decision will be made on whether Ministers Marija Vučković and Irena Hrstić, along with other senior officials, will appear before citizens as early as August 18.
The impetus is the emergency situation involving an illegal hazardous waste dump within the former PPK Velebit facility, where a USKOK investigation has confirmed significant contamination of soil and groundwater. Expert findings from the Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering revealed that some waste samples exceed the hazardous property of ecotoxicity by tenfold, with the site's hazard level assessed as high.
Radojčić insists on full transparency for citizens. "Residents of Gospić and the surrounding area, as well as all of Croatia, must receive information on health risk assessments, the area of potential exposure, relevant pathways of contaminant spread, planned health protection activities, and the planned type and timeline of remediation," she stated.
In her statement, she also called for establishing the entire chain of responsibility: "We demand a clear picture of the chain of responsibility from the highest to the lowest participants, from waste import permits, the reissuance of waste management permits after their revocation, who transported the waste, who saw it and failed to react." For such severe endangerment of human health, she emphasized, maximum legal prison sentences should be imposed.
According to expert findings, the environmental changes are permanent or long-lasting. "This involves a strong chemical burden on the soil and potential toxic effects, representing a long-term source of pollution," Radojčić relayed the details. Microplastics were found in the soil, along with elevated concentrations of copper (100 times above permissible levels), lead (10 times above), and antimony (as much as 300 times above permissible values). She further noted that experts from the Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering also confirmed elevated zinc levels, completing the picture of multiple heavy metal contamination of the soil.
Particularly concerning is the discovery of PFAS compounds in groundwater downstream of the illegally dumped waste site. "Once introduced into the aquifer, the findings state, toxic PFAS compounds can remain present for decades, and their further spread is expected in the direction of natural groundwater flow until remediation," Radojčić quoted the experts' conclusion. The environmental changes are assessed as partially irreversible, as they can be reduced through remediation measures but cannot be completely eliminated without excavation and soil replacement.
Radojčić also warned of the enormous financial damage. "It should also be said that due to state negligence and corruption, the financial burden of the very expensive remediation, estimated at around €125 million, will be borne by citizens," she stressed. Ministers Marija Vučković (Environment and Green Transition) and Irena Hrstić (Health) have been invited to the session to report on actions taken and the remediation plan.
For the public hearing scheduled for August 18, in addition to the two ministers, invitations have been extended to Luka Balen, Director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund; Ivan Samac, Deputy Chief State Inspector; Ernest Petry, Prefect of Lika-Senj County; and Darko Milinović, Mayor of Gospić. "I publicly call on my colleagues from HDZ, as well as other committee members, to attend the session so we can have a quorum and hear from those responsible about the circumstances that led to this unprecedented pollution and the dangerous threat to the health of the citizens of Gospić and Lika," Radojčić urged, aware that the decision requires majority support in the Committee, where HDZ currently holds the majority.
