Josip Dabro offers to withdraw from parliament if it bans communist symbols

The Homeland Movement MP has come under fire after a video surfaced recently in which he improvises lyrics lauding Ustaša leader Ante Pavelić. The video caused a stir among the center-left opposition but also within the coalition government.

On Wednesday HSLS President Dario Hrebak gave Prime Minister Andrej Plenković a thirty day deadline to rid the coalition government of Homeland Movement MP Josip Dabro. In response Dabro himself announced on Thursday that he is willing to leave Parliament of his own accord, but under one condition: "If in the following thirty days we adopt a law the explicitly bans communist symbols and slogans, as well as the public affirmation of prominent communists, who persecuted, imprisoned and murdered Croatians, I will vacate my seat in parliament. Let's ban the red star, under which the very founders of the HSLS suffered in communist prisons, under which Vukovar and other Croatian cities were razed to the ground. Do this, and I will no longer be a member of the governing coalition."

"As far as his offer, the HSLS has no problem with that. I would remind you that in 1998 adopted a declaration condemning totalitarian regimes, eleven years before the European Union did so and twenty years before the Homeland Movement was even founded. So, discussing this is pointless. Maybe we'll issue an official position on this in the coming days," responded HSLS MP Darko Klasić.

Prime Minister Plenković commented on the HSLS - Dabro situation on the margins of the AI summit in India, saying that he will not accept ultimatums and that he will meet with both sides next week: "This situation was entirely unnecessary. We will look into whether this situation with Mr. Dabro was coincidence or on purpose. It does not seem entirely coincidental to me. And the reactions also seem a little overblown in my mind. So, I call on my colleagues to lower their ton and show some political responsibility."

Source: HRT