Zmajlović Ahead of Extraordinary Parliament Session: We've Asked Eight Questions, We Expect Answers
Mihael Zmajlović sharply criticized the Government and announced key questions about the remediation of hazardous waste in Gospić
Mihael Zmajlović sharply criticized the Government and announced key questions about the remediation of hazardous waste in Gospić
SDP Member of Parliament and member of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Nature Protection, Mihael Zmajlović, held a press conference on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, ahead of the extraordinary session of the Croatian Parliament convened due to the case of illegal hazardous waste in Gospić. In his address, he focused on the Government's responsibility and announced specific questions he plans to raise during the session.
At the very beginning, Zmajlović presented several key questions he expects the Ministry and the Government to answer. "What deadline has the Ministry set for remediation, when did the Minister appoint an expert committee, who sits on it, and when will people from Gospić be invited? You can't answer by talking about 2015," said Zmajlović.
He emphasized that he is submitting his questions to the entire public, the Ministry, and the Government. "If answers arrive, we will publish them in full. If not, we've learned everything we needed to today," he said, adding that he already knows what will be heard at the session: "Tomorrow, I roughly know what we'll hear in Parliament-about 2015, the opposition, that everything possible is being done, who called the extraordinary session and why-but there won't be answers to the questions posed."
Zmajlović called the session, scheduled for tomorrow and the day after, a test for the ruling party. "Will HDZ raise their hand for the conclusions of the President of the Republic? If yes, good, we've got deadlines. If they vote against, then they've answered our eight questions themselves," he said.
"Missed deadlines, dismantled environmental oversight, loopholes in regulations-this isn't a string of unfortunate coincidences; it's a system, and the one who built it over ten years is responsible for it," the SDP member stressed.
He also commented on the conclusions proposed by President Zoran Milanović, assessing that any reasonable person would have proposed them: why nothing has been done so far, why not a single ton of waste has been removed and remediated, and why no preventive measures have been taken. The key, he added, is to enable citizens' involvement because they have lost trust in all institutions.
Asked whether he expects progress for citizens from the extraordinary session, Zmajlović was clear: "The only real progress would be for the Government to get moving and start remediation. For 18 months, they've been unable to produce a remediation program. They say they're doing what they can, but that's not enough. On the first day after learning about it, they should have secured the site and covered it with an impermeable membrane."
In the most scathing part of his address, Zmajlović linked the case to corruption and systemic failures. "This isn't just damage. Someone made serious money here. This didn't happen by chance. The State Inspectorate was corrupt; the inspection tipped off the Šinček family two weeks before the visit... This is betrayal of one's own people. Environmental and nature protection is one of the highest constitutional values," he said.
The extraordinary session of the Croatian Parliament will be held tomorrow and the day after, with the main topic being the illegal hazardous waste in Gospić and the responsibility of institutions for past failures in remediation.
