Domovinski pokret (DP) MP Stephen Nikola Bartulica said on Wednesday that there is still a lot of work to be done on the coalition agreement with the HDZ party, that more time is needed and that he does not expect a quick agreement. He also said that the new government will probably not be elected on Friday.

“The 30-day deadline (for the election of the new government) starts to run with the opening of parliament and I think that more time is needed for the coalition agreement,” Bartulica said at a press conference in parliament.

Asked whether he would support the government if the coalition agreement did not include what the Domovinski pokret (DP) party was demanding, Bartulica said this was a hypothetical question.

“I am a reasonable politician, I do not exclude some options and, as always, I will vote according to my conscience. My message to (Andrej) Plenkovic is that he will not have an easy time with me if he thinks he can simply dismiss our demands,” said Bartulica.

“The DP’s demand regarding gender ideology was not controversial for the HDZ”

Regarding Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s statement that there would be no investigation into the COVID-19 pandemic, Bartulica said that if Plenkovic wanted a transparent government and was not afraid of the truth, he did not see why this demand should be controversial.

He welcomed Plenkovic’s statement that the DP’s demand regarding gender ideology was not controversial for the HDZ and added that he expected his proposal to amend the State Registries Act, which was not submitted to the last Parliament, to be put up for discussion in the upcoming period.

Bartulica welcomed the adoption of his initiative to establish a museum for the victims of totalitarian regimes and expects the talks with the HDZ to go in the right direction.

“There is much more content that needs to be defined, Plenkovic has fulfilled the form, we know who is in the majority, but there is still a lot to do in terms of content,” Bartulica said, adding that DP voters expect the party to keep its promises and that its positions on ideological issues are not new.

He also commented on allegations that he was a US spy. “It used to be said that the DP was the long arm of Russia, and now apparently the Americans are setting the tone, as if every morning I expect instructions from the White House on what to say.”

“No one is above public criticism, not even the weekly Novosti”

He was told in a newspaper column that he should return to where he came from. “This is a call for lynching. If something were to happen to me or my family, the question would be who would have to answer for it. I may seek the protection of the US embassy in Zagreb if Croats from America and their ideas are not welcome here,” he said.

Regarding the financing of the weekly newspaper Novosti of the Serb minority, published by the Serb National Council (SNV), Bartulica said that moral panic was being spread.

“In a liberal democracy there are no sacred cows, nobody is above public criticism, not even the weekly Novosti, especially when it receives ample funding from the state budget,” he said, adding that if Novosti’s reporters are good, they have nothing to fear and Novosti could potentially be the highest-circulation newspaper on the market.

“Individual members of the HDZ negotiating team are making contradictory statements. (Ivan) Anusic says that we talked about Novosti, Plenkovic says that we did not, so they should first agree among themselves before we can move on,” Bartulica said, noting that it was important to preserve the dignity of the negotiation process and that it should be transparent for the sake of the public.