The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the parliamentary majority were never against any candidate a priori, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told reporters on Wednesday when asked about Judge Radovan Dobronic, President Zoran Milanovic's candidate for Supreme Court President.

“Our position has always been that the procedure must be followed. The previous candidacy failed because the candidate, Professor Djurdjević, was nominated in violation of the procedure. She was neither defamed nor humiliated. As for Judge Dobronic, I have nothing against him a priori. We will see what his programme will be like and what the parliamentary Justice Committee and a general session of the Supreme Court will say about him, after which we will decide,” Plenkovic told the press during a visit to the Fire Command Centre in Divulje, just west of the southern coastal city of Split.

Commenting on the criticism by Milanovic that the Constitutional Court is under the influence of the ruling HDZ, Plenkovic said that the Constitutional Court had passed rulings on the Courts of Law Act based on motions that had nothing to do with the HDZ.

“No one amended the Courts of Law Act to put pressure on the incumbent President of the Republic. This is beside the mark and easily refutable. The public call procedure should be respected and we will see what happens after that,” the prime minister said.

During the visit to the Divulje Fire Command Centre, Plenkovic was acquainted with the current fire operations. He thanked all firefighters for their commitment to putting wildfires over the last three days.

“I am glad that there were no casualties and no damage to residential properties. Given that rain is forecast for this area, I hope that the situation will stabilise,” the PM said.

“We have taken great steps forward in the last four years. There is a very good synergy between firefighters and police, Civil Protection and the Croatian Army, which used firefighting planes. There is good cooperation with local and regional government, and the entire system of homeland security shows an enviable level of coordination,” Plenkovic said.