Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Davor Bernardic on Saturday called on the opposition party's members, voters and the public not to give in to apathy or believe that their vote was unimportant and not to let Croatia be dominated by those shouting the Ustasha salute "For the homeland ready".

Speaking at an SDP convention, Bernardic presented the party’s 12 candidates for the European Parliament.

“We took Croatia into the European Union… Don’t think that we can’t make changes in our country,” Bernardic said, adding that the SDP believes in a tolerant Croatia. “We believe in equality, solidarity, justice and a progressive Croatia of equal opportunities.”

Our goal is to be a normal country without crime, corruption, nepotism and injustice, he said.

The head of the SDP slate, the party’s incumbent MEP Tonino Picula, said the EU project was being endangered from within and warned about the real enemies of the EU, singling out EP President Antonio Tajani, “which threatens the EU project more than negative economic indicators.”

Bundestag deputy Josip Juratovic of the Social Democratic Party of Germany said “Social Democrats are the bulwark of democracy in Europe” and that today they must “fight against various ayatollahs such as Kaczynski, Orban, Trump and others… Because of these ayatollahs, these elections will be historic for the EU.”