The parliamentary Fokus (Focus) party has given the prime minister 24 hours to replace Economy Minister Tomislav Coric for involvement in a number of scandals, including the JANAF affair, noting that otherwise it will launch a procedure for his replacement with other opposition parties.
MP Dario Zurovec of Fokus called on PM Andrej Plenkovic to stop with insults and show responsibility and maturity and replace Coric, noting that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
“No one can convince me that a minister does not know what is happening with a company like JANAF, or what Josipa Rimac did, if that is within their ministry’s remit,” Zurovec told a news conference, noting that ministers in Western democracies stepped down for much less important reasons.
“If (Plenkovic) does not replace the minister, we will do it through the parliament and I believe the Opposition will come to an agreement on the matter in the coming days,” Zurovec said, adding that they had already held talks with certain parliamentary groups.
As for a similar motion by the Homeland Movement, Zurovec said that he had supported it, that the Opposition was communicating among themselves and that an agreement would be reached.
Fokus leader Davor Nadji said that different politicians had in recent days shifted public attention from the real problem with their performances and quarrels, the real problem being the fact that involved in the JANAF scandal are people from the government.
“Other ministers or the prime minister should not be exculpated either, but we must stress that a number of scandals are connected with Coric, and especially worrying is that those scandals happened in the area of his responsibility and involve people with whom he evidently associated, like Josipa Rimac and Dragan Kovacevic,” said Nadji.
HDZ whip: Coric isn’t burden
Commenting on the Fokus’s demand the parliamentary whip of the ruling Croatian Democratic Party (HDZ), Branko Bacic, said today that Coric “is not any burden” on the government and added that he expected the Opposition to clearly specify how Coric could have been responsible for the above-mentioned scandals.
He dismissed the announced interpellations proposed by the Opposition as something not founded on the facts.
