Ruling politicians met in Gospić with those who issued waste-import permits to criminals

The Gospić case has reinforced an unwritten rule: one wrong decision leads to another. Since the scandal over 37,000 tonnes of hazardous and illegal waste erupted, the government has followed a series of moves that appear increasingly disconnected from the urgency on the ground.

A recent USKOK announcement included shocking findings and an additional environmental assessment of the industrial complex in Gospić. The assessment found dangerous PFAS compounds in groundwater downstream from the waste site and judged the likelihood of further damage to be high. In practical terms, the area beneath Gospić could contain an “eco-bomb” requiring urgent remediation.

When journalists asked Plenković on Aug. 11 when he would travel to Lika to speak with residents, he replied, “When we assess that the time is right,” in what the article describes as his preferred style of playing down the drama. That moment arrived less than a month later. Three days before a protest that could grow into a mass gathering, given the broad support it had received, the prime minister arrived in Gospić with an entire group of ministers.

The timing made the purpose clear to the protest organizers from Gospić Is Our Home. They rejected Plenković’s invitation to talks, saying he had come only to repair the political damage he was suffering. The article also points to the government’s earlier failure to act on conclusions proposed by the president, including a call for the government to receive Gospić’s civic initiatives within three days and hear their concerns. Had the issue truly been urgent, it argues, Parliament would have supported those conclusions at its extraordinary session two weeks earlier.

“

When we assess that the time is right.