The Waste Scandal Could Be Unlike Any HDZ Scandal It Has Survived So Far

Nearly 40,000 tonnes of illegal and toxic waste were allegedly transported by truck and buried in the Lika karst over about a decade. In three days, residents will protest in Gospić, and support for the civic initiative Gospić Is Our Home is growing daily.

The waste scandal could prove different from the many controversies that Andrej Plenković’s HDZ-led governments have survived over the past 10 years, according to four political analysts. They say the issue reaches beyond party divisions because people can easily imagine the consequences of polluted soil and water.

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That is even one of the elements on which national pride is built.

Political analyst Dragan Bagić said the protest’s environmental focus gives it particular symbolic weight in Croatia. The themes of protecting the environment, preserving the country’s beauty and keeping its land unpolluted, he said, are linked to national pride. He also identified a further risk for the government: Gospić may not be an isolated case. Existing indications could point to a broader chain of incidents and an established method of handling waste.

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If it is proven that the way of handling waste was a model, there is a danger that the problem will turn into a spiral that keeps growing.

“If it is proven that the way of handling waste was a model, there is a danger that the problem will turn into a spiral that keeps growing,” Bagić said. He argued that the authorities are trying to create confusion, shift responsibility and turn the issue into a party-political dispute. At the same time, he said, the government appears aware of the risks and has moved quickly to convene an extraordinary parliamentary session.

Bagić said the protest’s political impact will depend partly on its size. If it draws more people than recent demonstrations organized by left-wing parties, it could show that the waste issue is mobilizing citizens directly against those in power. Analyst Anđelko Milardović said the affair had attacked a basic way of life and should concern everyone involved in creating the current situation. Waste, he noted, did not arrive on its own: someone imported it and was paid for it.

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Waste did not arrive on its own.