Penava: The most logical possible arrangement was for those in first and third to arrange the majority

The President of the Homeland Movement (DP), Ivan Penava, commented on the outcome of the negotiations regarding the composition of the new Government and the formation of the parliamentary majority in the premises of the Homeland Movement.

“The negotiation teams of Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and DP have reached an agreement on the parliamentary majority, and the composition of the executive power, i.e. the future Government. The agreement is based on the agreement of the DP, the HDZ, part of the members of the minorities, that is, representatives of the minorities and partners,” said Ivan Penava.

“Regarding departments, when it comes to DP, we are talking about three key departments that we communicated during the campaign and before the elections themselves. Number one is the ministry of demography, with regard to the DP program, we made it clear that we perceive the demographic breakdown that we are experiencing in Croatia as the number one problem and we are glad that we have reached an agreement for this department,” he said.

They will lead three ministries

“Likewise, the Ministry of Agriculture. Knowing what we communicated through parliamentary debates, but also through you and thanks to you in the media. Thus, self-sufficiency in food production, connectivity for demography and settlement of rural areas, which do not exist without good quality developed agricultural production. Absolutely, a big problem, a difficult problem, a problem that we have been solving in Croatia for more than 30 years and have not solved with quality. We are ready to tackle this challenge,” he said.

“That is why we are here and we hope and are sure that we will succeed in bringing this problem to a satisfactory level that will be possible to monitor through very clear figures, very clear dynamics of the increase in production and the fulfillment of the set goals,” he added.

“The third ministry that we managed to agree on through the negotiation teams, which we agreed on, is the Ministry of Economy, in its essential part of the economy, entrepreneurship, energy, industrial production and everything else that is the very essence. Therefore, without this part concerning ecology, i.e. green policies,” Penava said and added that the economy in Croatia is in a "convulsive situation".

“In addition to all of this, participation has been agreed to a certain extent, that is, a quota that will be applied through other government structures, but all these details need more time and we will use the days and weeks ahead of us for that. The first step is certainly to collect signatures to form a parliamentary majority. Related to that, the agreement is that the Homeland Movement will support a candidate for parliament speaker from the Croatian Democratic Union, and the Homeland Movement will have a deputy parliament speaker of Croatian Parliament,” he said.

Two Deputy Prime Ministers have been agreed

He said that two Deputy Prime Ministers have been agreed upon.

“We haven't detected the state secretaries yet, but according to the agreed quotas, which are 20%, we are talking about some 9, 10, 11, or 12, we are talking about a framework," he said.

He remains the mayor of Vukovar until the end of his mandate

“What I can tell you is that I will certainly remain the mayor of Vukovar until the end of my mandate. I can't say that we haven't talked about the names of my people, but we haven't determined them. So, we are talking,” he said.

The most logical possible arrangement was for the first and third to arrange the majority

With regard to the election results, he said that the most logical and stable possible agreement was for those in first and third to arrange the majority.

“It is clear to me that a large number of people had their own visions and plans, however, you have to be realistic and understand that you have a certain part of the 76 and that you should try to steer the course in our direction through your influence. If we have Mr. Plenković and the fact that he governed Croatia with his governments for the previous two mandates, we can interpret the message of the voters and the balance of power that they defined with the desire to continue the continuity of this style of governing the country, but to a certain extent that there should be a course correction. From the aspect of what the Homeland Movement represents, it is some kind of logic that we follow, and in this context I think that every realistic sympathizer of a member of the Homeland Movement or our voter and citizen in the Republic of Croatia should be aware that the only way we can do this is through participation in government,” said Penava.

Regarding the Independent Democratic Serb Party

“We have a problem with the Independent Democratic Serb Party, but that ruled out any problem with the Serbian minority. We are absolutely in favor of making every minority feel comfortable and not reducing their rights. On the other hand, we clearly communicated the reasons why we are against the Independent Democratic Serb Party. Their policies and ours are incompatible,” he said.

Source: HRT