Jadranka Kosor, who became an independent member of parliament on Thursday when she was ousted from the HDZ, and MPs from the Croatian Civic Party (HGS) Zeljko Kerum and Nevenka Becic on Friday formed a new parliamentary group of MPs.
The club will bear the name, 'Independent MP Jadranka Kosor and HGS' and it will be presided by MP Kosor, a press conference was told on Friday, adding that the club would open them more opportunities to participate in the parliament.
Kosor announced that she would present her economic agenda similar to when she was prime minister with constructive legislative proposals.
Becic said that she was honoured to be in the same parliamentary group as her colleague Jadranka Kosor, expressing her gratitude for the fair cooperation shown by Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) MPs in whose parliamentary group she has been sitting until now.
Reporters questioned if Kerum, Split Mayor and a businessman-turned-politician and his sister, Becic, were paying back the favour Kosor gave them when she included them on HDZ's slate in the last parliamentary election. Becic explained that at the time opinion polls estimated that the HGS could have won 4 seats in parliament but that they personally did not have the time to conduct a separate election campaign and settled for 2 MPs as a result of the coalition with the HDZ at the time.
The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) presidency unanimously decided on Thursday to expel former party president Jadranka Kosor from the HDZ after it found that her public statements had undermined the existence and reputation of this strongest opposition party.
