Following claims by former presidential adviser Mate Radeljic that the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) was involved in his dismissal, an MP from President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic party said that she has the right to replace her advisors any time she wants.

MP Miro Kovac of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party said on Saturday that the situation around the dismissal “should be de-dramatised” and that everyone should wait for a presidential statement.

“The president decided to change advisers on her team, which she is entitled to do according to the law. This, of course, isn’t always painless,” Kovac, who serves as chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, said a press conference in the southern coastal city of Split.

The state intelligence agency meanwhile issued a statement listing its constitutional duties and said it was performing its duties “professionally.”

Asked about the relations between the government and the president, Kovac recalled Grabar-Kitarovic saying in an interview with public broadcaster HTV on Friday evening that their relations were good and that her goal was to win the next presidential election.

Speaking on the election, Kovac said that Grabar-Kitarovic would have the HDZ’s support if she announced her bid to run again and that the party would help her win.

Asked to comment on the statement by Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardic that Radeljic’s dismissal was “proof of the systematic abuse of the SOA by the HDZ”, Kovac said that Bernardic keeps saying lots of things, “but unfortunately he is not a credible member of the opposition. I would prefer if we had a better opposition.”