Zagreb - Before PM Andrej Plenković presented the government's annual report on Tuesday, the opposition accused him of political responsibility for the hazardous waste in Lika. Some opposition MPs walked out of parliament, saying they did not want to take part in his "show", while the ruling HDZ dismissed the accusations.
"The prime minister has told us he has nothing to do with the hazardous waste in Lika. That admission can mean one of two things: either he is not running the government at all and is merely a pawn for the mafia that poisoned Croatia, or he is in cahoots with the mafia. I don't know which is worse for citizens," said Nikola Grmoja of the right-wing Bridge party.
HDZ MPs dismissed the accusations as baseless. "You have been a product of the mafia and its sources of information since 2016," HDZ MP Ante Deur said. His party colleague Majda Burić told Grmoja that criminal liability was determined by law enforcement authorities, not "opposition politicians and scum like you".
"You and Plenković are the scum," replied Miro Bulj of Bridge.
Sandra Benčić of the left-green We Can! party said the prime minister had claimed that nobody had told him about the waste in Gospić for 10 years. She pointed out that the city's mayor had written to him about the situation in 2025, as had Gospić residents.
"An analysis showed as early as 2024 that the waste was hazardous, and you kept that from the public for two years," she said.
"A prime minister who does not tell the truth cannot expect parliament to believe his report on his alleged achievements. A prime minister who threatens MPs who warn of a disaster, rather than the mafia, does not deserve an audience for his spin. You never know anything and have never taken responsibility for anything, which is why you no longer enjoy the basic trust of either parliament or the public," Benčić added.
HDZ MP Stipan Šašlin retorted that the opposition had caused more damage to Lika through its populist statements than the waste itself.
Hrvoje Zekanović of the Croatian Demochristian Party (HDS) said the greatest damage to Croatia was being done by a "political Frankenstein made up of the SDP, Bridge and We Can! who are frightening people", describing this as treason. HDZ MP Mislav Herman pointed out that the opposition was not demanding accountability from Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević over the Jakuševec landfill and the injury of a worker there.
"Unlike you, the Zagreb authorities accept responsibility and deal with problems that you failed to resolve while you were colluding with (former mayor Milan) Bandić. And while you are in power, the mafia dumps 37,000 tonnes of waste in Gospić," said Ivana Kekin of We Can!, which is in power in Zagreb together with the SDP.
"The fact that there is a problem at Jakuševec and that it is a burden for We Can! does not mean that what is happening in Lika is not a disaster for which you must be held accountable," Nino Raspudić of the Drito party told the HDZ. He added that Plenković bore political responsibility and that the government should fall as a result.
Marijana Puljak of the Centre party said the prime minister's report was like an advertising break.
"Ten years of the same adverts: record employment, record wages. The government counts records, while citizens and businesses count their bills. But the advert does not show Lika, tens of thousands of tonnes of buried waste, lead, forever chemicals, 21 inspections and not a single lorry stopped. It does not show Omiš, where people fled the fire without receiving a warning. It does not show inflation or sports federations spending more than €200 million a year," she said.
SDP MP Mirela Ahmetović said her party had no intention of taking part in "Plenković's show".
"Let Plenković, the salesman of empty promises, explain why, in his supposedly prosperous country, hundreds of thousands of citizens pray they do not fall ill because there is no doctor available; why huge wages and pensions have not kept pace with the brutal rise in living costs; why the share of poor pensioners is twice the EU average; why trains are derailing despite historic investment; and why, Prime Minister, you present yourself in public as a polished European environmentalist while rolling out the red carpet for the waste mafia," she said.
"You have been and remain the weakest link. Goodbye," Ahmetović told the prime minister, after which SDP MPs left the chamber. We Can! MPs and some other left-wing opposition MPs also walked out.
HDZ MPs asked Bridge MPs why they had not followed their "partners" out of the chamber. Bridge MP Ivan Matić replied that they wanted to hear how the others were "washing their hands of serving the mafia".
HDZ MP Ante Sanader concluded that the opposition's biggest problem was its inferiority complex and its inability to accept the government's successes.