Opposition continues to hammer the HDZ over the illegal landfill in Gospić

On Monday President Zoran Milanović called for an urgent remediation to the crisis in Gospić, while the Chair of Parliament's Environmental Protection Committee, Možemo MP Dušica Radojčić, called a thematic session of the committee to be held in Gospić on Friday.

Prior to tomorrow's emergency session of the Parliamentary Committee for Environmental Protection to be held in Gospić, politicians from all sides of the political spectrum commented on the issue of the illegal disposal and burial of hazardous waste. Speaking at a joint press conference, the SDP and Možemo noted that the Gospić landfill is not the only illegal landfill in the country.

"Croatia has become a hotspot for the European mafia, which has noticed that there is no system in Croatia, no monitoring, no inspections, and if it does exist, it is tied through corruption to the HDZ, and it does not control things happening in waste management," said SDP Party President Siniša Hajdaš Dončić.

The Coordinator of the Možemo! Party Sandra Benčić outlined their demands: "We have a few simple demands: the immediate remediation in every place that we have these kinds of illegal landfills, from Gospić, to Poznanovec, Benkvac and so on. Second that we hold a session of parliament as soon as possible, at which we will establish that this government is illegitimate and call new elections."

The HDZ responded today by once again accusing the opposition of spreading panic and politicizing the issue. HDZ member of the Environmental Protection Committee, Ante Sanader: "Most committee members, including those from the ruling coalition, have requested the attendance of State Attorney General Ivan Turudić so that we can better understand the potential criminal aspects of the situation. This will give us a clearer picture of what is happening at the dumpsite. We are also calling on other experts to attend the session, so that lawmakers can hear all the relevant facts and make informed decisions on how best to resolve the issue."

"It is particularly interesting to hear our colleagues from Možemo! speak about the environment and waste management, given their catastrophic record on these issues, especially in Zagreb. For five years, they have made virtually no progress in solving Zagreb's waste problem, nor have they closed the Jakuševec landfill, despite making its closure one of their key campaign promises before coming to power," added HDZ MP Maksimilijan Šimrak.

The opposition MOST Party was in Benkovac today, where they noted that Gospić is not the only site of the illegal dumping of hazardous waste in Croatia as roughly eleven thousand tons of hazardous waste had been buried in Benkovac.

Source: HRT