The HSLS party on Friday condemned a statement by Bridge MP Nikola Grmoja who expressed disgruntlement over the promotion of sexual minority rights and linked the LGBT community to paedophilia.

“Tolerance and intolerance are two opposites that best symbolise two Europes today, a democratic one with liberal principles of freedom, equality and tolerance as part of their state policies, and an undemocratic one led by Orban’s policies of intolerance and discrimination,” HSLS leader Dario Hrebak said in a press release.

He said that in that kind of Europe there are two mutually opposite Croatias, one that belongs to the EU with its values and the other which is represented by “Orban’s poltroons,” which is the group that “Grmoja obviously belongs to,” who are bothered by democracy and the values it consists of.

HSLS, which is part of the ruling coalition considers that the purpose of political institutions is peaceful conflict resolution between individuals, protecting individuals from any form of oppression and finding solutions to political problems that would be in accordance with the wishes and interests of individuals.

Democracy is not only its institutions but values it is founded on, and the relationship towards minorities in fact shows how a society puts its democratic values into practice, said Hrebak.

We must never stop fighting against backward ideas because by condemning them and clearly distancing ourselves from them, we are protecting democracy and its institutions, he added.

Grmoja on Wednesday announced that he would put forward and anti-phaedophile bill that would also ban “LGBT propaganda” being spread to minors.