Prime Minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that his party would not 'succumb to media hysteria' and would first 'check all the information' related to Sisak-Moslavina County prefect and HDZ member Ivo Zinic that has recently emerged in public and 'only then take a political stance.'

“At the moment there is too much detail that we are not entirely certain about,” said Plenkovic after a meeting of the HDZ’s Presidency, National Council and parliamentary caucus which was also attended by Zinic.

Zinic, who has been called out in the media for occupying state-owned property and incorrectly completing his declaration of assets, has been asked to explain the allegations and circumstances, which he did from his point of view. Considering all the information that is circulating, we have requested information and opinions from the competent authorities so that we can take a political stance in the next few days, said Plenković.

He compared the episode relating to Zinic with what he called media hysteria regarding houses reconstructed after the 1991-95 war that were destroyed in the recent earthquake. It is now obvious that there weren’t as many as was presented in the media, he said.

Plenkovic said that he will not succumb to similar media hysteria regarding Zinic and that he will wait for an opinion from the competent authorities. After that, he said, we will see whether Zinic will be HDZ’s candidate in local elections or not.

Plenković also said that state secretary Nikola Mažar would replace Požega Mayor Darko Puljašić in the parliament. Puljašić stepped down as an MP after media reports that he participated in fixing tenders for energy renewal in that town.

The government is expected to relieve Mažar of duties as state secretary in the Central Office for Reconstruction and Housing on Thursday so that he can fill Puljašić’s seat in the Sabor, said Plenković.

HDZ discussed the situation in Požega and the party’s local county branch has been instructed to resolve the situation in the city branch as soon as possible, he added.

Nikola Mažar is the president of the HDZ Vukovar branch and Plenković underscored that HDZ has great ambitions to win in Vukovar at the local election in May and that he believes Mažar’s appointment to the parliament ahead of the local elections is good and useful.