The parliamentary opposition party Bridge started gathering signatures at over 1,200 venues across Croatia on Saturday for a referendum to regulate the work of the national COVID-19 crisis management team and abolish COVID certificates.

“We have started gathering signatures for this crucial referendum to strip the national COVID-19 team of its powers, restore democracy and abolish unlawful COVID certificates,” the party’s MP Marija Selak-Raspudic told a press conference in front of a signature collection point in Zagreb’s main square.

Signatures will be collected at stands in public places until 18 December. The referendum would demand that COVID certificates, which are now mandatory for entry into state and public institutions, be abolished within 30 days and that the powers of the COVID-19 crisis management team be transferred to Parliament.

MP Nino Raspudic said that the referendum questions contained what the opposition had been demanding all along – to return decision making to Parliament. He called on the other opposition parties, both left-wing and right-wing, and all people, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, to join them “on the last line of defence of democracy and the constitutional order.”

The questions were formulated in cooperation with constitutional law experts.

Asked what the alternative to COVID certificates was, Selak-Raspudic said that it was the testing of vulnerable groups in all health institutions and compliance with the epidemiological measures.

There is enough money for testing, because vaccines are being purchased in excessive quantities and are later donated anyway. That money could partly be used for buying tests, she added.

“We are not against measures. We are in favour of measures that will be consistent, epidemiologically founded and non-discriminating,” Selak-Raspudic stressed.

The press wanted to know if the Bridge MPs regretted their support for the recent protest rally against COVID certificates after the police announced they were investigating several persons on suspicion of inciting terrorism and some of those people were connected with the protest.

“We supported the people who came out to express their dissatisfaction, and not terrorism. We are the last persons who would advocate violence or any kind of terrorism, because we are fighting for the citizens’ rights and freedoms in a democratic and legal way,” MP Nikola Grmoja said.