Domovinski pokret (DP) MPs declared on Thursday that they will not support the appointment of Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) MP Milorad Pupovac as Chairman of the Committee on Human and National Minority Rights and the report by Gender Equality Ombudswoman Visnja Ljubicic.

At a press conference, the DP MPs stated that they had informed their coalition partner, the HDZ, about how they would vote on the two issues on Friday.

“We had a number of objections to the work of the ombudswoman, who said that she would wait for the WHO’s position on gender ideology, which shows that she is pursuing a more globalist and less sovereign policy. This is something we very often argued with her about when we were in opposition, so we cannot support this,” said DP group leader Igor Peternel, explaining his party’s position.

He added that his party’s position on Pupovac’s appointment was well known.

Mujkic: Croatia should have a clear position on the swimming category for transgender women

His party colleague Ivana Mujkic said that the DP had not forgotten its world view and stood by its positions.

Mujkic also commented on the statement of Ombudswoman Visnja Ljubicic on the decision of World Aquatics, the governing body of swimming, to create a special, open category for transgender women, in which she said that the right of transgender athletes to compete equally in all sports should be taken into account, but that the biological characteristics of other competitors should also be taken into account.

“We believe that she has not distanced herself clearly enough and that her position is contrary to basic biological attitudes and common sense and discriminates against women competing in this sport. Croatia should have a clear position on this matter and as a state we cannot afford to wait for an international governing body to make a decision that will then be transferred to the national level,” said Mujkic.

Peternel: Political decision-making in the coalition

When asked about his statement that the DP would leave the ruling coalition if Serb ethnic minority MP Pupovac was elected chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Human and National Minority Rights, Peternel said, that the matter was a great burden for the coalition and that he still considered Pupovac’s appointment completely unacceptable, but that DP negotiators had spoken with the HDZ and agreed on the establishment of a museum of communist crimes and an amendment to the Cemetery Act to remove Chetnik monuments.

He rejected the comment that this was a compromise and emphasised that when making political decisions in a coalition, you have to give up something to get something else.

“This committee (on human and national minority rights) is not part of the executive, it’s a small sinecure, but in principle an important one. I still think this is unacceptable, but the HDZ and Andrej Plenkovic insist on it, although I have not heard a single reason for it,” Peternel said.

Mujkic added: “By Domovinski pokret joining the government majority, (SDSS MP) Anja Simpraga is no longer deputy prime minister and we will try to change all the things we promised our voters. We are sensible enough not to forget our main goals… we entered the government because of them and we will not give them up.”

Peternel said that unlike the case of MP Pupovac, his party would not back down from its demand that the government withhold state funding for the Serb minority weekly Novosti.