The HDZ whip said on Wednesday the opposition wanted to give a parliamentary inquiry commission powers which not even the OZNA (Yugoslav security and intelligence service) had.
Branko Bacic was responding to the opposition’s criticism that the ruling party was against the establishment of an inquiry commission which would look into possible obstructions or influence by the authorities when it comes to independent investigations.
“I understand why the opposition is nervous. The document they worked on for weeks can’t pass in parliament. They drew up a document which could have been written by a person living in 1947, 1948 who doesn’t know that a Croatian state was established in which the judicial authority is independent,” he said in parliament.
He told the opposition the majority would not adopt an illegal and anti-constitutional decision. “That’s why you’re nervous,” he said, dismissing their criticism that the HDZ did not want to actually deal with corruption and crime.
Grmoja: If anyone knows how OZNA worked, it’s the HDZ
“If any party or government has been working on curbing corruption and crime, it’s this government which has made it possible for DORH (State Prosecutor’s Office), USKOK (anti-corruption office) and the police to be fully independent,” Bacic said, adding that the opposition wanted to call judges to parliament to talk about their cases.
“You want to prosecute the Croatian judiciary and the Constitutional Court and DORH in advance,” he said.
“If anyone knows how OZNA worked, you from the HDZ know. Nowhere else are there more former members of the (communist) party and UDBA (Yugoslav secret police). You have filled the judiciary with your close friends,” said Nikola Grmoja of Bridge.
He said a debate on the establishment of the inquiry commission was not about law but politics.
Sandra Bencic of the green-left coalition said she did not agree with the prime minister’s assessment that the commission would conduct a too broad inquiry and bring into question the independence of the judiciary.
