Hrvoje Zekanovic (HDS party) and Dario Hrebak (HSLS party) said on Wednesday that they were not afraid that the internal party elections in the Domovinski pokret (DP) and a possible rift in the party could affect the ruling coalition and emphasised that the government was stable.

Zekanovic and Hrebak, whose parties are partners in the HDZ-led government coalition together with the DP, made this statement when they arrived at the government office for the first meeting of the government coalition after the summer break.

“This government will work for the benefit of citizens and the state for the next four years. I do not know whether a party will fall apart and I can only give hypothetical answers to hypothetical questions, but my final answer is that the government is stable,” Zekanovic said.

He said that he was satisfied with the cooperation with the HDZ and that he did not feel that he was behaving submissively towards the HDZ, an allusion to the statement by Domovinski pokret member Stephen Nikola Bartulica that his party was behaving submissively towards the HDZ.

Hrebak: Anything is possible

Zekanovic said that he would like the media to focus their attention on current developments in the opposition parties.

“I would like the media’s attention to shift a bit to the SDP party, where there has been a lot of turbulence and chaos. The Fokus party has fallen apart, which has gone unnoticed. I have heard that there have also been disputes in the Most party,” he said.

HSLS leader Dario Hrebak said he was not worried that possible developments in the DP after Saturday’s internal party elections could destabilise the government majority or lead to a reshuffle, but added that anything was possible.

“There are many serious parties in Croatia that are ready to continue the course we have taken,” he said.

DP leader Ivan Penava did not attend meeting of the ruling coalition on Wednesday.