The leaders of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Croatian Peasant Party (HSS), Tomislav Karamarko and Branko Hrg respectively, on Friday signed an agreement on lasting cooperation between the two opposition parties, under which they would run together in elections for the European Parliament and in parliamentary and presidential elections in Croatia.
"Finally!" Karamarko told the press after the signing ceremony. He said that the HSS was a party with a century-old tradition that always defended the interests of the Croatian state.
On the other hand, Karamarko described the present government as the worst ever. "It's a fact that 15,000 people lose jobs every month, that strategic infrastructure facilities and businesses are being sold, everything we have is being sold, and when we criticise them they say, 'Why are you complaining? We are the best,'" the HDZ leader said, adding that such government was of no use and that further "devastation of Croatia should be stopped."
Karamarko said that the HDZ and the HSS have enough potential to open "a new chapter in the struggle for such a Croatia for which people gave their lives in the war, and that is not a Croatia where people live in poverty and rummage through rubbish every day."
"We have a huge synergy and I am confident that together we will succeed. The time has come for us to say: now or never! If it carries on this way, Croatia will go to ruin. All the red alert lights are on," Karamarko said.
Hrg said that the signing of the agreement would "certainly mark Croatia's future," noting that the two parties had been cooperating at local level for a long time and winning local elections in most areas where they had joint slates.
"The HSS is aware of itself and its own strength, and we are signing this agreement with a clear heart, with a great hope and courage," Hrg said, adding that it was the first time his party was entering into a pre-election coalition and that their intention was to create a true Christian Democratic party and to develop a joint platform for the benefit of all citizens. He said that the agreement had received unanimous support from the entire party.
"I believe in the success of this coalition, that it will be a victorious coalition and that others will join our team," Hrg said.
The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of the Croatian Party of Rights - Ante Starcevic, the Pensioners Together Bloc and the Croatian Christian Democratic Party, with which the HDZ had signed similar agreements before.
