Commenting on the government's mini-reshuffle, Social Democratic Party leader Pedja Grbin said on Thursday that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was obstructing everything that might help change things in Croatia for the better and that obedience and loyalty were his sole criterion in the selection of ministers.

“He (Plenkovic) is stopping everything. Two years ago, he stopped the health reform and nothing has been done about it since,” Grbin told a press conference in the Parliament building.

The prime minister announced on Wednesday that Construction Minister Ivan Paladina would be replaced by the chairman of the parliamentary group of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Branko Bacic, while Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Natasa Tramisak would be replaced by her State Secretary, Sime Erlic.

“It makes no difference whether it is Bacic or Paladina, Erlic or Tramisak if there is no policy on how to help the people who still live in shipping containers and how to ensure that more money is withdrawn from EU funds to raise the living standards of Croatian citizens,” the SDP leader said.

He said he did not hear a word about this from Plenkovic, who he said was responsible for everything that was going on in the present government, but that the outgoing ministers said they could not do anything on their own because they were not given a free hand.

Asked if Bacic’s influence in the party and his experience would help speed up the post-earthquake reconstruction process, Grbin said that Bacic had already served as a minister and “we do not remember anything positive from his term in office.” The circumstances now are a lot more difficult than they were then, and he is one of the people who always voted against the opposition’s proposals to accelerate the reconstruction, he added.

“Andrej Plenkovic is the one who appointed Paladina, Horvat, Stromar and Kuscevic, and who recommended all 22 ministers who left the government, and his result is zero. We are last in the EU in terms of withdrawing EU funds, and Erlić was state secretary at the ministry in charge of EU funds. We are reading in the media that he is already under investigation. What is important is that these people are completely loyal to Plenkovic, and whether they are competent or corrupt, his radars do not detect that,” Grbin said.

“Twenty-two ministers have left the government during Plenkovic’s premiership, and seven have done so during the term of the present government, which is more than the number of homes rebuilt in Banija. No results have been achieved and why should we expect them now?” he added.

“In this whole charade with the replacement of Paladina and Tramisak we did not hear anyone from the HDZ say what would be done to speed up the reconstruction, and Plenkovic did not have the courage to go to Banija and tell the people what he would do to ensure a decent life for them,” the SDP leader said.

Grbin said that no one knew why Tramisak was fired and that this was obviously because of loyalty to the prime minister.