Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Zoran Milanovic said on Monday that the ongoing protests of farmers were the result of the government's failure to deliver on its commitments to the farmers, expressing confidence that there would have been no protests had the government had the courage to admit to the farmers that there was a shortage of funds, rather than make "political calculations."
Milanovic said that the government should have entered into dialogue with the farmers before adopting the 2010 budget last year and should have explained to them the state of government finances and that "things cannot be as they have been."
"I believe the farmers would have been ready for such dialogue," he said at a press conference marking International Women's Day.
Recalling that the SDP had warned that this year's budget was unrealistic and untenable, Milanovic said that his party was interested in resolving the farmers' problems, but that it did not want to "add fuel to the fire". "This has been a pretty fiery situation fuelled by senior government protagonists who have been making false promises over the past year or so."
Asked to comment on the plan by Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor to take further tough measures to help the economy emerge from the recession and on her statement that it was time for the truth, Milanovic said he wanted to believe that the PM would tell people "how things stand, what can and what can't be done," which the government had failed to do in the 2010 budget. He added that the truth about the economic crisis should have been told already in late 2008.
Asked whether the government would "crack" under the pressure and whether there would be an early election, Milanovic said that the SDP would be "better and more responsible" than the present government, adding that the survival of the present government depended on the support of the parliamentary majority and on whether citizens would have enough patience.
Commenting on criminal charges brought against senior SDP officials, Milanovic said that the Mayor of Rijeka, Vojko Obersnel, enjoyed his full support and that he regarded Obersnel as a model of how a mayor should be working.
Milanovic said that it should be noted that Obersnel and two other SDP Presidency members, Zvonimir Mrsic and Tonino Picula, were suspected of mismanagement and not of corruption. "Crime is one thing and bad business moves are another. I would leave it to voters to decide."
Milanovic rejected criticisms that his party only supported criminal prosecution of people who were not from its own ranks.
