SDP, Možemo! wrap up anti-inflation campaign

The opposition SDP and Možemo! parties concluded their two-month nationwide campaign against rising prices on Monday with a final event in Zagreb, accusing the government of failing to tackle inflation and calling for a new economic and political direction.

The two left-leaning parties, which plan to contest the next parliamentary elections together, argue that Croatia needs structural economic reforms to improve living standards and curb persistently high consumer prices.

Speaking at the campaign's closing news conference in Zagreb's European Square, SDP President Siniša Hajdaš Dončić blamed Prime Minister Andrej Plenković for the country's inflation, saying Croatians can buy far less today than they could in 2021. He also claimed that inflation in Croatia remains significantly higher than the European average.

"Croatia needs a new economic model and a new political model. Because only through a change in our economic model, where the government's focus will be on Croatian food production, energy self-sufficiency and strengthening institutions, can we find the solution to inflation," Hajdaš Dončić said.

He added that the opposition would continue campaigning for political and economic change in communities across the country and in Parliament ahead of the next election.

The government swiftly rejected the opposition's criticism.

At a news conference at the Ministry of Finance, State Secretary Matej Bule dismissed the campaign, which the opposition branded as targeting "Plenković's inflation," as a political exercise designed to boost support for the two parties. He accused the SDP and Možemo! of creating unnecessary public concern and described the campaign as a "traveling circus" that failed to produce any realistic proposals for tackling inflation.

"In the past few months, the opposition has launched one of the largest campaigns in recent years, and has tried to be a democratic corrective to the government. They have shown their abilities and limitations. We responsibly insist that in the past few months we have literally not heard a single concrete, feasible and financially sustainable proposal on how to curb high inflation in Croatia," Bule said.

He argued that the campaign's primary objective was political rather than economic and rejected suggestions that the government was solely responsible for inflationary pressures. Bule also maintained that the opposition's campaign had failed to dent the government's popularity or produce any meaningful policy proposals to help Croatian citizens.