The Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Gordan Jandrokovic, said on Friday that he had agreed to a compromise to postpone the vote on constitutional judges until Saturday, as it was "a matter of the utmost importance."

The decision came after the Social Democratic Party (SDP) threatened to boycott the vote if it was held on Friday, the same day as the vote on its motion of no confidence in the government.

“The SDP has started this bizarre political game”

“We could have avoided this situation, but this is not a question for me or the ruling majority, it’s a question for the SDP. They started this bizarre political game. Tomorrow we will decide on 10 new constitutional judges, and that is the most important thing,” Jandrokovic told reporters after the vote on the constitutional judges was postponed.

The SDP party had insisted that it would not participate in the vote on the constitutional judges if it took place on the same day as its motion to dismiss the government. To avoid a constitutional crisis, as the term of 10 constitutional judges, which had already been extended six months ago, expires at midnight on 7 December, Jandrokovic said he had agreed to the compromise.

“It is crucial to preserve the Constitutional Court because we have the presidential election ahead of us, in which the court plays an important role. If we did not decide on the election of constitutional judges, the entire process could be legally questioned. We wanted to avoid that at all costs,” he said.

Opposition blackmail rejected

In response to questions from the press, Jandrokovic said that he was not considering reversing the order of the votes – holding the vote on the judges on Friday and postponing the vote of no confidence in the government until Saturday – because this would amount to agreeing to the SDP’s demands.

“As the Speaker of Parliament and representative of the ruling majority, I cannot give in to blackmail by part of the opposition. However, I was prepared to find a compromise. I insisted that the vote of confidence on the Prime Minister take place today, as it puts the ruling majority to the test. We also voted on the new minister and the budget, as these acts show that Croatia has a stable majority,” explained Jandrokovic.

He emphasised that this is a matter of great importance and added that he expects fairness and political responsibility from all sides in Saturday’s vote.

Uncertainty over the deployment of Croatian officers to the NSATU mission

It remains unclear when the parliament will vote on the deployment of Croatian officers to the NATO mission “Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine” (NSATU) in Wiesbaden, where they are to train Ukrainian soldiers. Jandrokovic did not say whether the vote would take place next Friday, the last day of the session before the one- month parliamentary recess.

“In our opinion, refusing the participation of Croatian personnel in this mission would damage Croatia’s political reputation and standing in international relations. We will continue the discussions and perhaps, when tempers have calmed down, a decision will be taken that is in line with the position of most NATO and EU member states,” he said.

He added that a decision will be taken in due course.

“But if we do not make a decision, we will have done anything wrong to those who expect it. If we make the decision and it is negative, the message would be much worse than if we continue to leave room for a possible agreement. We will wait and assess the situation. Next week we will work from Monday and on Friday the 13th we will discuss and vote on many points. I expect that there will be no extraordinary meeting,” he said.

When asked whether the ruling HDZ party was considering sending only civilian representatives to the mission, Jandrokovic replied that such participation was marginal and secondary and that they were looking for something more substantial.