Election platform

SDP presents opposition platform in Osijek

28.09.2011 u 21:58

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Social Democratic Party (SDP) president Zoran Milanovic and SDP member of Parliament Rajko Ostojic presented the election platform of the SDP-led opposition coalition in the eastern city of Osijek on Wednesday, focusing on health care.

Ostojic, vice-chairman of the parliamentary Health Care and Welfare Committee, said that under the coalition's plan, called "Health Care for All", hospital waiting lists would be cut by 50 per cent by July 1 next year and the additional health contribution for pensioners of 3 per cent would be scrapped. He mentioned further training and bonuses for hospital staff as part of efforts to stop brain drain in the health sector.

Responding to questions from the audience, Ostojic said that "the acquired rights of war veterans will not be touched" and that none of the hospitals would be closed down, but they would be reorganised.

When asked if the SDP, if it came to power, would seek a ban on the HDZ if the ongoing investigations into the party's secret bank accounts found that "the HDZ has been functioning like a criminal organisation," Milanovic said that he had no such powers and that "there is no need for that."

"It is individuals who must be brought to account, and courts will decide whether they did what the State Attorney's Office says they did. If probable cause is established, they will have to answer for it," Milanovic said.

Milanovic said he did not think that any party in Croatia, the HDZ included, was violating the Constitution, but added that he thought that "some people have broken the law, and as politicians and public persons they are in a morally dubious position."