The president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zoran Milanovic, said on Wednesday that yesterday's appearance of former Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader before the parliamentary commission probing the privatisation of the leading Croatian oil and gas company INA, showed that Croatia was a hostage to the internal conflicts in the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.
Milanovic told the parties comprising the ruling coalition that by supporting the government they became accomplices in those conflicts and they are assuming responsibility for the continuation of disorder in the country.
"Every party can have its internal problems, in Croatia and in any other state, but when the entire country and its functioning becomes a hostage of conflicts within one party, in this case the HDZ, then this isn't good and it has to stop," Milanovic told reporters in SDP headquarters.
Asked to comment on denial from the government and the HDZ that Prime Minister Kosor, who at the time was deputy prime minister, attended the contentious meetings on the privatisation of INA, although Sanader said yesterday that Kosor attended the meetings, Milanovic said: "Someone is not telling the truth here," Milanovic believes that PM Kosor should talk about this before the commission of inquiry.
"The statement that the prime minister has better things to do is not good. I agree that she and the government have an important job to do, I am not sure if they are doing it well, but everyone involved in this case should come before the commission and remove existing doubts. Somebody obviously is not telling the truth. If it is the prime minister who is not telling the truth than this isn's good. Over the past month we witnessed at least two occasions in which it is uncertain whether she was telling the truth," Milanovic said.
Milanovic said he was surprised at the fact that the incumbent government is refuting any connection with or responsibility for what had happened in the second stage of the INA privatisation, while at the same time they are claiming that the agreement was beneficial for Croatia and that everything was carried out in accordance with the law.
Asked to comment on Sanader's testimony, Milanovic said the best comment was everything that was said before the commission yesterday, adding that SDP members sitting on the commission did a good job.
Asked to comment on yesterday's publication of the gas deal, Milanovic said the agreement could have and should have been published before, immediately after it was signed.
