Independent MP urges opposition to jointly initiate a no-confidence vote against PM Plenković, and demands President Milanović urgently convene an extraordinary session of Parliament.
Independent MP Marija Selak Raspudić on Sunday called for the fall of the entire Government of the Republic of Croatia, assessing that the scale of the environmental crisis in the Gospić area transcends individual responsibility and requires the dismantling of the system led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković. In a sharp statement, she called on the entire opposition to act in unison and asked President Zoran Milanović to use his constitutional powers to convene an extraordinary session of the Croatian Parliament.
Selak Raspudić described the reactions to the Lika pollution case involving "forever chemicals" as "too lukewarm." She argued that this is not the time for declarative outrage, demanding the resignation of a single minister or filing criminal charges, but for concrete institutional action that would result in the government's fall.
"This is the moment when the entire government should fall. This is not just another corruption scandal we have, unfortunately, largely become numb to; this is the-enlightening-point when time must stop and political heads must roll. Therefore, I call for concrete institutional action," Selak Raspudić stated.
She asked President Milanović to enable the urgent convening of an extraordinary parliamentary session where the government would be obligated to act swiftly and amendments to the Criminal Code would be adopted. The key demand is the introduction of ecocide as the most serious criminal offense against the environment. She reminded that the proposal for these amendments is already in parliamentary procedure, drafted by criminal law experts from the Faculty of Law in Zagreb, led by Professor Aleksandra Roksandić.
The MP assessed that the pollution of Lika's soil and water threatens not only the residents of Lika but the entire Croatia. She attributed full responsibility to the Government led by Plenković, emphasizing that the case cannot be reduced to individual responsibility but is a systemic failure that allowed Croatian soil and water to be exposed to hazardous waste.
Selak Raspudić expressed doubt that the Gospić case is isolated and that similar illegal dumpsites might exist in other parts of Croatia. She called on the entire opposition to rise above individual political interests and submit a joint proposal to Parliament to reconsider confidence in the Prime Minister.
"I call on the entire opposition to submit a joint proposal to the Croatian Parliament to reconsider confidence in Andrej Plenković and show our citizens that Croatia is above our individual political interests and differences. Because if not now, when?" Selak Raspudić emphasized.
A day earlier, on Saturday, August 8, Prime Minister Plenković announced on social media that he had held a meeting with all relevant stakeholders to address the issue of illegal waste disposal in the Gospić area and Lika-Senj County. "All those responsible must be prosecuted, and simultaneously a remediation plan should be prepared with the support of the Environmental Protection Fund," his post stated.
