"I think Hannes Swoboda has crossed the line of non-interference in another country's internal affairs," Croatian People's Party (HNS) leader Radimir Cacic said at a press conference in Zagreb on Wednesday when asked to comment on the statement by the European Parliament rapporteur that Croatia should first complete its EU accession negotiations and then set a date for its parliamentary elections if it wanted to join the EU as soon as possible.
"I would connect Swoboda's statement with that of the chairman of the parliamentary group of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), in which he informs the Croatian public that all relevant factors know the date of parliamentary elections, including Swoboda and EU officials, and that the only people who don't know it are citizens of Croatia and the Croatian Parliament," Cacic said.
"This speaks enough of the HDZ's attitude towards the citizens of this country, and of course it probably served as a basis for Swoboda's statement," he said, adding that the government should make public the election date "in order to put a stop to these frustrations, discontent and passions that can sometimes be abused by marginal, but dangerous groups and converted into violence."
Earlier in the day, Cacic said that the HNS would file a defamation lawsuit on Thursday against the entire government over the statement by its spokesman Mladen Pavic that the Opposition was behind the violence at last week's anti-government protests.
