A united left-liberal and right opposition, except the IDS, on Friday submitted to parliament a motion for a no-confidence vote in Economy Minister Tomislav Coric in connection with the Krs-Padjene wind park and his having visited former JANAF head Dragan Kovacevic's private club.

Mirela Ahmetovic of the Social Democrats said they were not submitting the motion for politicking reasons as the ruling HDZ suggested and that it was rare for the entire opposition to unite.

She said they would rather talk about higher salaries for doctors, how to additionally help businesses, raise the non-taxable income and reform public administration and the judiciary, but that “none of that is possible unless we stand together behind the fight against corruption.”

Ahmetovic said Coric’s political accountability was enormous. “He’s the captain of the HDZ’s corruption team.”

She said the scandals he was involved in included Krs-Padjene, the appointment of the director of Krka National Park, and the visits to Kovacevic’s club, due to which the Conflict of Interest Commission opened a case against him. She expects the case of the LNG terminal on Krk island to escalate as well.

Ahmetovic said that despite all that, the prime minister gave Coric “one of the financially biggest ministries to run.” She said the economic platform Coric wrote for the HDZ consisted of a lack of concern for the environment, high kickbacks and surrendering Croatia’s energy sovereignty to Hungary.

She said the motion was a patriotic act and that the opposition wanted to dismantle the ruling establishment’s corruptive governance.

Bencic: The opposition’s goal is to uncover and fight corruption

Sandra Bencic of the Green-Left Bloc supported the motion because, she said, it was important that the entire opposition had a common goal, to uncover and fight corruption which “has only one name, the HDZ.”

She said that with the contentious agreements with the investors in the wind park, Coric had cost Croatian taxpayers at least HRK 1.2-2 billion over the next 14 years. That is enough for his political accountability, regardless of whether he is doing it for his own benefit and corruption or because he is incompetent, she added.

Hrvoje Zekanovic of the Sovereignists said Coric was in charge of a huge portfolio and that no one was talking about the fact that Croatia had been lagging behind for years, if not decades, when it came to waste management centres which, he added, was a problem in every county.

He said nature was being protected as it was in the 1970s and that instead of wind parks, citizens could be helped by investing in and subsidising the price of solar energy, adding that panels could be put on every house.

Instead, he said, billions are given to foreign investors for wind parks which are neither profitable nor ecologically acceptable.

Anka Mrak Taritas of GLAS asked that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic come to parliament and say why he was defending Coric, adding that he was responsible for the minister’s wrongdoings.