Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that he had sent the President a letter asking him to nominate his representative to the steering committee for the preparation of the National Development Strategy, while the opposition can participate with its suggestions which the government will consider carefully.
“I sent a letter to the President this morning to nominate his representative. It is important that he has a representative on the steering committee who will be able, together with us, after public consultation, to suggest ideas, content, modifications, additional elements that we may not have not noticed during the entire process,” Plenkovic told reporters after presenting the draft strategy.
National Development Strategy until 2030
President Zoran Milanovic earlier in the day suggested that Prime Minister Plenkovic should include parliamentary opposition parties in the steering committee and the task force in preparing the National Development Strategy until 2030, underlining that this document was of national strategic interest.
Plenkovic sent copies of the draft strategy to Milanovic and Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic prior to releasing it for public consultation, government spokesman Marko Milic said on Wednesday. The prime minister invited the president to nominate his representative to the steering committee for the preparation of the strategy so he can make his contribution to it.
In the letter to Jandrokovic, the prime minister expressed his confidence that all legislators would contribute to the parliamentary debate so that the strategy received as much support as possible.
Plenkovic: Document to be released any time now, I expect everyone to contribute
The prime minister commented on Milanovic’s suggestion to include the opposition on the steering committee.
“As far as dialogue with the opposition is concerned, even prior to forming the second government, in mid-July, we called on opposition leaders at the time to come to a meeting. That was prior to that EU Council meeting when we brought €23.5 billion to Croatia. They all rejected it, no one wanted to come,” Plenkovic recalled.
“And now apparently the opposition wants to be involved more specifically. The same people now want to participate. We absolutely support that. The document will be released any time now. As soon as they go through it during public consultation or in any other way, we will carefully analyse anything they wish to suggest and take that into account. The document will be debated, not just at a plenary sitting but I expect all lawmakers to participate,” the prime minister underlined.
He added that the document would also be debated with the heads of the associations of counties, towns and municipalities.
“Therefore, we will consult everyone who needs to be consulted. This is an inclusive process,” the prime minister stressed.
“As far as methodology is concerned, that process is open and a lot of people can participate in it. This document is the result of the effort of a lot of people. It is our duty, as the government, to initiate this type of document,” Plenkovic explained.
He said that once the steering committee heard all suggestions during public consultation, it would discuss the strategy again. “It is a process, it is dialogue,” he underlined.
