Croatian Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic said on Wednesday, on the last day of the autumn session, that the parliament had passed about a hundred laws in that period, and he commented on the protests against epidemiological measures, calling on the silent majority to be the voice of reason.

Jandrokovic said again that attacks on doctors were inappropriate and underscored that they had to be condemned and penalised.

“There is a silent majority of decent people who do not get involved in situations like that, and they need to contribute to the voice of reason in challenging times. We do not expect them to physically confront those people, but it is very important that the voice of doctors, nurses, scientists, lawyers be heard and that we defend our position in a tolerant atmosphere and condemn those who try to achieve their goals by force,” Jandrokovic told a press conference.

MPs ‘had to be rebuked’

Unfortunately, many rude and unacceptable words were spoken in parliament today, he added, which was why he to rebuke some MPs.

He said part of the MPs didn’t understand their role, failing to realise that if they send messages of hate that call for violence, there are people who will follow them.

“Whatever our attitudes, we must be careful how we present them,” Jandrokovic stressed.

He added that today’s situation in the parliament had been going in the direction of physical violence, but that he estimated, as chairman, that it would not lead to that after all and tried to avoid provocation, even though “some deliberately manipulated that”, wanting to interrupt the session.

It was evident some MPs of the Most party had lost their temper, behaving uncontrollably at one point, so MPs of the SDP party and the green-left bloc had responded in a similar fashion, he said.

Asked to comment on Nikola Grmoja’s (Most) message to his party colleague Marija Selak-Raspudic that they had performed poorly and managed to turn everyone against them, which was recorded by microphones, Jandrokovic said that was “a fairly accurate assessment of what they have done”.

Asked by reporters about a protest against the adoption of the Act on the Protection of the Population against Infectious Diseases, Jandrokovic said that the purpose of the law was to protect citizens’ lives and health, that the state had to respond to new challenges, and that it was a necessary evil.

All the restrictions are aimed only at protecting the health of citizens, so we call on everyone to get vaccinated, wear masks and keep their distance. Nearly 12,000 people have lost their lives already, a large number of them in the last wave due to not getting vaccinated, the parliament speaker said.

I’m glad it’s increasingly clear which political options are parasitising on the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.

Asked about some inconsistent government decisions, Jandrokovic said things should be put in context, noting that the government had reacted excellently in some situations, while in some it may have been late in introducing tighter measures, trying to balance between preserving health, jobs and the economy.

The Omicron variant has arrived, there may be a fifth wave of the pandemic and we must be prepared, Jandrokovic said, adding that he expected the law and measures to be obeyed and that politicians were not above the Constitution and laws, which applied to everyone.