Parliamentary opposition parties on Thursday welcomed President Zoran Milanovic's appeal to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to include them in the preparation of the national development strategy as a document that would define Croatia's future over the next decade.

The key authority for the development of the strategy is the steering committee which is also responsible for monitoring its implementation. Since the steering committee includes the whole cabinet, representatives of the associations of counties, towns and municipalities and only one representative of parliament, we think that the president’s proposal is good, Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Pedja Grbin told the press.

The national development strategy is not being prepared for a term of just one government but will cover the period from 2021 to 2030. It is only logical then that the steering committee should include not just representatives of the current government but also the opposition so that those who now lead the country, as well as those who will lead it in the future, are involved in all the processes, Grbin said.

He said he was not surprised that the government did not want any opposition representatives on the steering committee. “I hope the president’s initiative will meet with a sympathetic ear and that the government will realise how important it is during the preparation of the national development strategy to be able to hear the voice of those who are not in power,” Grbin said, adding that the president’s proposal was reasonable and could not be seen as being patronising towards the prime minister.

Stephen Bartulica of the Homeland Movement described the president’s proposal as a good idea. “It’s not easy to reach a consensus in politics, but we should at least try. The development strategy until 2030 is an important document defining long-term consequences for our country. There should be the broadest consensus possible, so I welcome this idea.”

Tomislav Tomasevic of the green-left bloc said that the national development strategy was key and probably the last chance for Croatia to turn to an economy that would reduce greenhouse emissions while increasing employment and making the economy and society more resilient to new crises, less dependent on tourism and with more healthy food and green energy.

“In a normal country, the government would have included the opposition in the development of such a strategy to reach a consensus already three years ago. We welcome President Milanovic’s proposal,” Tomasevic said.

Bridge’s Nikola Grmoja also said that the opposition should have been included in the preparation of such an important document long ago.