Plenković on Gospić: The waste will be removed, we are working on solving the problem

At the Bled Strategic Forum, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković also spoke about current domestic topics—the waste situation in Gospić, the announced citizen protest, the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and new fuel prices. He rejected criticisms from the opposition regarding the Government's actions in the Gospić case, stating that the problem has been recognized and that work is underway to resolve it.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković dismissed accusations that the Government is not doing enough and criticized the opposition for what he called the politicization of the problem.

"We are now in a much better position than a few days ago. We had a parliamentary committee that met in Gospić, where the committee chair de facto completely unnecessarily cut short the session, which everyone attended. If you have the Minister of Environmental Protection, the Minister of Health, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General, a representative of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, all competent services, and the Environmental Protection Fund in one place to clarify this entire case to MPs, the public, and the citizens of Gospić, then you don't cut the session short after an hour," he said.

Plenković believes that the termination of the session was politically motivated and that there is an attempt to turn the problem into a conflict with the Government.

"It is good that the MPs of the parliamentary majority stayed and answered the questions of all those who did not want to politicize the topic. This is absolutely orchestrated. There lays the difference between those who truly care about Gospić and those who want to organize some kind of street protests in Croatia against the Government," he stated.

"Criminal proceedings initiated against those responsible"

Speaking about the case itself, he acknowledged that the problem exists and pointed out that criminal proceedings have been initiated against those responsible. However, he emphasized that according to measurements taken so far, there is no threat to citizens regarding drinking water.

"The Croatian Institute of Public Health continuously measures the safety of drinking water from the public water supply in Gospić and the entire Lika-Senj County, and it is completely safe to drink, meaning there is no real threat at this moment," he said.

He also announced amendments to the Criminal Code to stiffen penalties for criminal offenses against environment and nature protection, as well as the continuation of activities by competent institutions to resolve the problem. He also addressed the announced citizen protest, saying he would not attend on Saturday because he would be in Italy at another conference.

He stated that rules are being prepared for handling bagged waste and loose waste on the surface, as well as for lining the landfill site itself at PPK Velebit, while a negotiation process should follow for the buried waste.

"We are dealing with solving the problem, not protesting"

Commenting on the announced citizen protest in Gospić, Plenković said that it is a legitimate democratic way of expressing views. However, he believes that the main message of the protest is clear—citizens want the illegally brought waste to be removed as soon as possible.

"That is a democratic form of expressing views. After all, this is not the first protest we've had. It sends a message that people want the waste that was illegally accumulated there, in the area of the city of Gospić, to be removed from there as soon as possible. And that will happen," he said.

When asked whether someone from the Government would attend the protest to show support for the citizens, Plenković said they had not discussed it. He stated that the Government's focus is on concretely solving the problem, rather than participating in protests.

"We are dealing with solving the problem, not protesting," he stated.

Plenković on Penava: The main topic is uncovering the fate of the missing

The Prime Minister also reflected on the appointment of Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava as head of the Government Commission for Determining the Fate of Victims of Crimes Committed Immediately after World War II, and his involvement in finding and shedding light on the fate of missing persons.

He said that this is precisely one of his main tasks and that he does not see it as problematic for Penava to be dealing with this topic.

"When we appointed Mr. Penava, the main topic was for him to deal with finding, that is, uncovering the fate of people who are in burial sites and pits in Slovenia. And it is logical for him to deal with that topic. We do not need to micromanage every single detail," he emphasized.

Plenković on the NRRP: We cannot reduce the entire plan to a single project

Plenković then rejected assessments that the success of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) should be measured through individual projects, such as robotaxis.

He pointed out that through the NRRP, Croatia has implemented a series of reforms and fulfilled a large number of criteria, and has so far been paid 7.3 billion euros in grants and favorable loans.

"We can now reduce the entire implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to one project. Thanks to our negotiations and our engagement, fully six years ago, Croatia received, alongside Greece, the largest share of support when viewed in relative terms."

According to him, about 80 reforms have been implemented through the NRRP, and according to current estimates, Croatia should meet almost all predicted indicators.

"That is not such a bad score for 10 billion euros that helped the growth of the Croatian economy, helped the economy, justice, healthcare, environment, transport, reconstruction, energy renovation, education, schools, kindergartens, and faculties. So, when I look at the whole picture, it is a process that has been very good."

Speaking specifically about the robotaxi project, Plenković said that it has not yet received final homologation from the competent institution in Germany. He added that the state, on the Croatian side, secured the necessary prerequisites, from infrastructure to legal amendments, and that the project met the criteria for digital transformation and green transition when it was included in the NRRP.

"We are dealing with the spillover of global fuel price growth"

The Government has made a decision on new fuel prices, with Eurodiesel, blue diesel, and gas becoming cheaper.

The price of Eurosuper increased by one cent per liter, which Prime Minister Andrej Plenković considers an insignificant price hike.

"We regulate this because we want to enable citizens and the economy to have cheaper energy sources," he said.

Plenković pointed out that energy prices are currently one of the biggest economic challenges that Croatia cannot directly influence. According to him, they are also affected by the crisis in the Middle East, which spills over into global prices of oil and petroleum derivatives.

"If we have shown ourselves to be consistent somewhere in mitigating that growth, it is truly around fuel."

"Serbia would close the doors to the EU for itself with a state funeral for Mladić"

With a funeral for war criminal Ratko Mladić with the highest state and military honors, Serbia would close the doors to the European Union for itself, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković assessed on Monday.

Mladić, sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, died last week in Hague custody at the age of 84.

Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić announced that Mladić will be buried with the highest state honors.

On the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum on Monday, Plenković stated that he understood this was not a final decision, but he condemned the idea, emphasizing that Mladić is a war criminal who was a commander in Knin and is responsible for the worst crimes in Škabrnja and other parts of Croatia.

"It is as if they are closing the doors to the European Union for themselves," the Prime Minister said, adding that he had also discussed the topic with some actors at the gathering in the Slovenian town.

Source: HRT