Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that his HDZ party would decide on whether to support President Zoran Milanovic's candidate for Supreme Court president, Radovan Dobronic, after all candidates for the post had been interviewed and their programs analysed.

The HDZ and other members of the parliamentary majority want to “see the written explanation of the Supreme Court General Convention on the candidates’ programs, followed by the candidates’ interviews before the parliamentary Judiciary Committee, after which decisions will be made,” he told reporters during a visit to Bjelovar, adding that he had briefly discussed the issue with President Milanovic during a visit to Knin.

As for Vukovar Mayor Ivan Penava’s claim that there was a covert agreement between the HDZ and the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) on the coming census, aimed at manipulating census data, Plenkovic said the claim was absurd.

“The amount of nonsense with which opposition politicians go public is abnormal. The census will be held in line with the law. To foment inter-ethnic tension this way is wrong, base, it goes over the top,” Plenkovic said.

The media space is being polluted a lot, which is also one of the reasons why people believe just anything regarding vaccination against coronavirus, he said.

Commenting on the epidemiological situation and restrictions, Plenkovic said that the current strategy was in line with the state’s role in securing vaccines for all citizens, adding that he put trust in the scientific community and not in “online comments”.