Uproar in the European Parliament over waste from Gospić, HDZ members: ‘Don’t politicize the problem…’

The initiator of the discussion, Gordan Bosanac, previously accused the European People’s Party, to which the HDZ belongs, of intervening in order to remove the mention of Croatia and PFAS compounds, “permanent chemicals”, from the title of the discussion.

The representatives thus discussed the topic “Protection of human health from toxic substances”, and European Commission Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Oliver Varhelyi, considered an “Orban loyalist in Brussels”, began his address by talking about tobacco and e-cigarettes, later mentioning the control of air quality and industrial emissions, but not the case. Our Lady.

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Karlo Ressler from the EPP was the first Croatian representative to comment on the case in that city, who said that “serious politics solves this problem”, and does not spread panic and fear.

For Ressler, illegal waste management represents a common European challenge for “just about every” EU member state because the word on crime of a cross-border nature.

Ressler emphasized that this case “is not an opportunity for ideological competition, but a test of the strength of our rule of law”.

Socialist and Democrat (S&D) representative Romana Jerkovi answered him immediately, saying that “asking questions is not spreading panic but protecting citizens”.

She said that an “ecological disaster” like the one in Gospi “does not happen overnight, but when the government closes its eyes for years” and favors the interests of “well-connected individuals instead of protecting citizens”.

Jerković assessed that “some are now trying to shift the blame exclusively to international crime and cross-border traffic of waste”, which is the existing problem, but it does not answer the question why the state and institutions did not implement the existing rules.

The representative asked how it was possible that thousands of trucks with illegal waste managed to cross the border and that “several dozens of inspections” did not find anything objectionable at the landfill.

Slovenian liberal MP Irena Joveva commented on the name of the debate, saying that it was a “pity” that 37 thousand tons of illegal waste could not be cleaned as easily as her originally proposed name.

Joveva said that the waste came from Italy, Germany, and even her own Slovenia – 15 thousand tons, but that the Slovenian inspectorate claims that no permits were issued for it.

“Waste obviously crosses borders more easily than political responsibility,” Joveva said, criticizing the Croatian authorities for speaking of “panic and hysteria” even though local residents have been warning about waste for years.

In his address, the Bosnian said that in Croatia the obligations to announce the import of waste and the register have been abolished, so he asked Varhelyji how it is possible to deregulate such supervision at the national level, even though it is contrary to European regulations.

He emphasized that the EU must have clear rules – a country that does not have the capacity to recover waste must not import it. The representative of the Greens said that the “national government” cannot solve this “ecocide”, so he called on the Commission to monitor this case.

“Our Lady and Croatia will not be a dumping ground for the European Union,” he concluded.

HDZ MEPs: Illegal waste management is a common European problem

The representative of the town Tomislav Sokol said that illegal waste management is a European problem that should be approached from the European level. He suggested connecting customs, police, environmental and financial authorities within Europol, the possibility of using the European mechanism for civil protection in rehabilitation, and connecting European digital systems with national data.

Jerković reacted to his speech. saying that his proposals are late and cannot release the state from its responsibility.

Sokol said that “there are holes at the European level that need to be solved” because there are many other cases.

“We have to think about the future, not just trying to focus on this,” he said.

Spanish socialist Laura Ballarin Cereza noted that citizens learned about the scale of the case not because “the system worked but because it failed.”

“Let the case of Our Lady serve as a reminder that citizens have the right to know who allowed this to happen, who did not prevent it and who will be held responsible for it,” said the Spanish representative.

HDZ MEPs Nikolina Brnjac and Sunana Glavak in the debate insisted on the position of the HDZ/EPP delegation that illegal waste management is a wider European problem and the issue of dealing with crime, and that the case of Gospica was used politically by calling out the Croatian government.

Brnjac pointed out that hazardous waste illegally passes through several countries and cited the example of Spain, where 35,000 tons of such waste were imported from Italy.

She also reiterated that the Croatian government is “taking all the necessary steps” from remediation to the initiation of an investigation. She called for cross-border surveillance, traceability of waste and a joint fight against organized crime, and added that “no one is interested in the politics of gunfights”.

Slovenian representative of the Greens, Vladimir Prebilič mentioned to HDZ’s euro representative that Croatia imports waste even though it does not have enough capacity to manage it, which opens the door to cases like Gospi, to which Brnjac replied that Croatia exports more waste than it imports.

SDP’s Romana Jerković in reaction to the HDZ MEP’s presentation, she pointed to the responsibility of the state, considering that it did not prevent crime and that in the case of Gospi, a number of directives, including fundamental acts of the Union, were violated.

In her speech, Sunana Glavak asserted that “some people want to make good political profit” on this topic and reiterated that the Croatian government is solving the problem.

She warned that the “false narratives” of some politicians are causing damage to farmers, livestock farmers, OPGs and producers in Lika, and added that their products are safe for consumers. She also pointed out that this case has a “European dimension” and, like her colleagues from the HDZ delegation, asked the Commission for a stronger traceability system and a better exchange of data between members.

About the case of Gospić on Monday, SDP’s MEP Marko Vešligaj also spoke on current political topics, assessing that the warning system he failed in Omiš and the illegal dumping of waste in Gospi are “European scandals” that lead to a loss of “trust in the institutions, and even in the European Union itself”.