Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Jadranka Kosor has accused Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic of having no answers to crucial social issues of public interest, including the problems of milk farmers, who have been protesting against the dairy industry's decision to lower the milk purchase price.
"The premier is always the most exposed and the most responsible and must have answers to issues of public interest. In my opinion he will have to receive (protesting) milk farmers sooner or later. If he fails to do it, we'll see what will happen," the former PM and now leader of the strongest opposition party said at a news conference in Zagreb on Monday.
She said that "hardship" must have made milk farmers take to the streets.
Asked whether she expected answers from PM Milanovic, leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), regarding the recent appointment of Nada Cavlovic Smiljanec as the head of the tax administration although it was established that Cavlovic Smiljanec had overdue liabilities, Kosor said that only the current prime minister could give answers to that question.
She accused Milanovic of ignoring the public and refusing to provide answers to many questions, including the problems of the disgruntled farmers.
"This is obviously some sort of tactics. The premier seems as if he did not want to interfere in his own job. This is not a good message," Kosor sad at the news conference organised by her party.
Kosor, accompanied by HDZ officials Djuro Popijac and Branko Bacic, who used to be ministers in her cabinet, also refuted criticism from the current government about her cabinet leaving only "smoke-screen" when it came to investments.
Popijac said that from 2008 to the end of 2011, the HDZ-led government had kick-started investments in the amount of 5.9 billion euros, with as much as 4.125 billion in the crisis-hit years 2009, 2010 and 2011. In that context, he cited many investments which the previous government had launched.
