Ahead of a debate on an interpellation on the government's response to the Covid-19 crisis, the opposition criticised the government and the national Covid-19 crisis response team for a lack of transparency, late decision-making and unwillingness to cooperate with the opposition and experts.

Both the left- and right-wing opposition, which moved the interpellation, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was the most responsible for the crisis.

Andreja Maric (Social Democratic Party) said everyone in the opposition agreed that there were problems in healthcare which should be addressed.

“In the beginning, we fully supported the work of the response team and the government in the fight against the pandemic because it wasn’t easy for anyone to make decisions on a new plague. However now, after nine months, we believe it’s necessary to talk about all the problems faced by the health system and all of Croatia because of the coronavirus crisis,” she said.

We ask that the government and the response team elaborate their decisions in parliament, submit reports on their work, admit their mistakes and accept advice from the opposition and experts, Maric said.

The interpellation, she added, is a way to speaking in parliament and before the public about all the problems that have surfaced, from financing and staff to equipment and the debt owed drug wholesalers.

The opposition also wants the government to elaborate on its and the response team’s work in parliament once a month and submit a report on the work done to date within 15 days.

“We believe we need mass-scale antigen and PCR testing, distance learning for middle and high school and university students, and that it’s necessary to isolate the sick and ensure work from home whenever possible,” said Maric.

Milan Vrkljan (Homeland Movement) said the national response team had done everything either late or wrong.

He said Germany used the summer to educate patients, the population and the medical staff, whereas nothing was done in Croatia. “We went on holiday. The consequence is that we have… almost 90% of fatalities among those on ventilators.”

Vrkljan said Croatia had 800 ventilators but not more than 30 doctors trained to hook a patient to one and monitor them properly. “All of this is a consequence of sleeping during the summer,” he said, adding that the response team and the government’s Scientific Council had fallen apart.

He asked that the government and the response team report to parliament once a week.

Sandra Bencic of the Green-Left Bloc said they supported the interpellation because they asked already in October for applying the traffic light system and for saying what epidemiologists in the response team recommended as restrictions and what the government or parliament eventually decided, so that one could distinguish the responsibility of scientists and politicians.

She said Plenkovic, rather than Health Minister Vili Beros, was ultimately responsible for the failed crisis response “because he makes all the decisions.”

Dalija Oreskovic of Centre said Croatia did not prepare for the fight against Covid nor do enough, including healthcare. “The response team became politicised, making decisions based on politicking, and now citizens are bearing the brunt of it.”