The MP for Možemo, Sandra Benčić, used the debate on the confidence of the Prime Minister to link the issue of illegally dumped waste to the broader manner in which the state is managed. At the centre of her speech was Prime Minister Plenković’s assertion that the opposition should apologise to local farmers, as their claims, in the Prime Minister’s view, were damaging the local economy and creating the impression that the Lika region and its produce were unsafe.
Benčić argued that responsibility was being shifted to political opponents and those raising the alarm, rather than establishing that the illegal dumping had been allowed to persist due to a lack of timely response from the system. She cast doubt on the claim that the issue was local, stating that such a case could not have occurred without failures in the legislative, supervisory, and institutional systems, for which the state authorities also bore responsibility.
The MP stated that the Prime Minister regularly sought responsibility for issues outside the Government, citing waste management, inflation, the housing crisis, healthcare, and the position of pensioners as examples. She asserted that the public had not been given complete information in a timely manner regarding how much the state institutions and the Government knew about the waste issue in Lika. The debate followed the opposition’s proposal to initiate a question of confidence in the Prime Minister due to the cases of illegally dumped waste.
The Prime Minister rejected the opposition’s allegations, insisting that the Government was addressing a problem it had not caused. Ahead of the debate, Plenković accused political opponents of destabilising the Government and creating additional harm to the Lika-Senj County and its producers through their messaging.
Benčić strongly criticised the Prime Minister during the debate, accusing him of avoiding taking political responsibility for problems in the country for ten years. She stated that Plenković was focusing on his own image rather than addressing strategic issues, and that he had not told the truth to the public about how aware he was of the waste problem in Lika. "The Prime Minister announced today's session by stating that the opposition, which is calling for a vote of no confidence, should instead apologise to the local farmers in Lika-Senj County," Benčić said. She added: "The opposition, which has been warning about what is happening in Gospić, should be the one apologising, not the one who, through legislative oversight, negligence, and intent, allowed the poisoning of Gospić and Lika."
"The Prime Minister has not taken responsibility for any political outcome in the past ten years," she stated. "When we warn that waste management in Croatia is a criminal enterprise, he says: 'Someone else is to blame.' When we say that we have the most stubborn and stubborn rate of inflation, the external circumstances are blamed," she said. Benčić presented a number of cases of illegal waste management across Croatia, stating that the Prime Minister regularly claimed he was unaware of the problems, although, according to her, warnings had been coming from different parts of the country. 'He didn't know about Gospić, he didn't know about Poznanovec, he didn't know about Benkovac, Senj, Pazin, Donji Miholjac, Belišće, Belišće. You can continue the list. He didn't know anything, and all those who pointed it out, we were hysterical,' she said. 'A person hears this shifting of blame literally not even from schoolchildren who have forgotten their homework. After all, they admit. He never admits,' she added.
Benčić emphasised that political responsibility does not only involve answering for one's own actions, but also taking responsibility for the results of institutions, laws, and public policies managed by the executive. 'He believes that one needs a thick skin for politics, while we believe that what is needed for politics is a different understanding: that responsibility for what is happening in the country, and for the outcomes of policies, lies with the top of the government,' she said. She illustrated her point with a comparison to a quote from US President Harry Truman, which stated that the final responsibility for decisions lay with the President. 'As one American President wrote on his desk in the Oval Office: "The buck stops here." For Andrej Plenković, I assume, the desk says: "Forward it"', she said.
She asserted that Plenković, during his ten years in power, had failed to resolve Croatia's key structural problems, as, in her view, his political strategy was subordinated to avoiding blame and protecting his public image. 'The strategy he has for managing this country is a strategy of managing blame. He has not solved any strategic problems for the country, but has only focused on his own image,' she said. She described a pattern of behaviour where a person in a leading position does not question their own decisions, but regularly blames subordinates or other participants in the system for failures. 'We all know such people. We all know people who are always blaming others. We know people who always shift the blame to those below them. Who consider themselves the best, while everyone else is less valuable and less capable,' she said. 'We all know such people in our lives, and I am sure that no one would ever vote for such a Prime Minister. But we have a Prime Minister just like that,' she concluded.
