The leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Pedja Grbin, said on Monday after the second round of talks with the Domovinski pokret (DP) party on forming a parliamentary majority that all options are on the table, including new election, should the negotiations fail.

Grbin declined to discuss the DP’s views on the issues at stake, saying that everyone was aware of their proposals.

“We believe that this is a chance for Croatia to make progress in the fight against corruption and in the fight for media freedom, and after that all options are on the table, including a new election, which we in the SDP are ready for,” Grbin said at a press conference.

“Co-operation with the DP could be short-lived”

Nothing that the SDP has presented is secret. Their priorities are the formation of the parliament and the clarification of Ivan Turudic’s status as State Attorney-General and the amended Criminal Code. Grbin said they had not discussed personnel issues.

Grbin said that co-operation with the DP could be short-lived, in which case the next option would be a new election. “We will see if it can work over a longer period. If not, it would be fairest to hold a new election.”

Grbin said that the talks with the DP were not just a formality. “I do not have the impression that we are only talking for the sake of form, because then I would not attend the second meeting”

“The fight against corruption, the fight for the freedom of the media, the fight for the rights of pensioners and the rights of children in Croatia are too important to neglect or delay. Our offer is concrete and the results for Croatia will be good,” said the SDP leader.

Grbin added that they continue to demand that the parliament be formed for anti-corruption reasons, because the most important thing is to remove Turudic and not allow a person with ties to crime to take the helm of the State Attorney’s office.

They also want to abolish the amended Criminal Code. Grbin said that they had seen a report today stating that the situation of media freedom in Croatia is worrying.

He said they had discussed with the DP the deadlines for the formation of the parliament, which will begin its work after the final election results are submitted to the President of the Republic. “The next step is up to the DP, and our position is clear,” Grbin said.

He pointed out that the DP was in opposition until 14 March and could not prevent the appointment of Turudic as State Attorney- General, but now it has the opportunity to rectify this.

Grbin pointed out that they did not discuss this with the ethnic minorities, the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS) and the Croatian People’s Party (HNS), because it is not realistic to discuss the removal of Turudic with those who appointed him.

No proposal from the government is required for the removal of Turudic before he takes office

However, all those who voted in favour of Turudic two months ago now have the opportunity to correct what happened according to the will of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), he added.

He explained that no proposal from the government is required for the removal of Turudic before he takes office. He added that the appointment decision should be declared invalid, the State Attorney’s Council should be informed and a new procedure should be initiated.

He noted that this should happen before Turudic takes office, but he did not say how realistic that is.

Grbin would not comment on the views of the other parties and said journalists should check with them. He confirmed that the SDP was in close contact with Most and other parties.

“We all know the numbers, we can add them up. It is predictable what positions the other parties will take, but I cannot speak for them. If there is the will to form the parliament, we will agree on the Speaker and the working bodies needed to implement the decisions we propose. The first step is to decide whether we want to do this on our anti-corruption platform,” Grbin concluded.