The ruling centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has no legitimacy to pass the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, and its adoption "by force" would show that the HDZ was, and is, "a party of corrupt, dangerous intentions," said MP Dalija Oreskovic of the Centre party on Monday.

“The fact that a party that has been found guilty of corruption in a final court judgment is designing our anti-corruption policy shows how rotten this country is. Everything that Croatia achieved in wartime, you HDZ people have destroyed and robbed in peacetime,” Oreskovic said ahead of parliamentary discussion on the final text of the act.

She accused the HDZ of pushing through this law “by force, despite the opposition of the domestic and foreign professional public, which shows that the HDZ was and has remained a party of corrupt, dangerous intentions.”

Marin Piletic of  the ruling HDZ party responded by saying that Oreskovic, who previously served as chair of the Conflict of Interest Commission, was insulting the HDZ MPs and that she herself had breached the existing Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, which says that the chair of the Conflict of Interest Commission cannot be engaged in politics. “It is she who made her role of chair primarily political,” he said.

Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic and HDZ MP Branko Bacic also said that Oreskovic was insulting members of the HDZ. Bacic asked her to explain how was it that her law firm, out of 2,500 law firms, had landed a deal with oil pipeline operator Janaf without a public tender.

Nearly all parliamentary opposition groups expressed their dissatisfaction with the final text of the act.

“If we adopt the act in the form proposed by the HDZ, it is clear that we in Croatia will not be fighting corruption any more but will be leaving the door wide open to any politician to do anything they want without any control,” centre-left social Democratic Party leader Pedja Grbin said.

Ursa Raukar-Gamulin of the Green-Left Bloc said that the proposed act would only strengthen corruption in Croatia. “You are deceiving the public by saying that GRECO’s recommendations are being complied with, which is not true,” she told Justice Minister Ivan Malenica.