Ivo Josipović returns to SDP, too early to talk about presidential candidacy

ZAGREB, (Patria) - Former Croatian President and current leader of the Naprijed Hrvatska party said on Wednesday that next week he will inform the Presidency members about the invitation they received from SDP for talks on a possible unification and expressed hope that they will be approved and successfully concluded.

Josipović told a press conference that they received the invitation from SDP to join talks on a possible unification relatively recently.

He stated that there is no timeframe for an agreement with SDP. "We will talk and then we will see what the result will be," he added.

He believes there will be fewer obstacles of a political nature since both parties are social democrats. This, he says, was precisely the important issue on which they could not agree with Glas, with whom they had been talking for a long time before SDP about a possible unification.

"In many ways, we are similar parties in politics, but in many ways, we also differ; they are liberals, we are social democrats. We talked for a long time, the talks were pleasant and useful, but one important issue remained, and that is the extent to which our new party is a common party and how much it has elements of liberalism and how much of social democracy, and we did not find common ground there, so we decided to continue our cooperation as independent parties and to carry out the process of unification and consolidation in another way," said Josipović.

He added that SDP is one of the possible paths, "it is the largest central left party, regardless of the known problems." "I cannot say whether we will reach an agreement with SDP, we are entering that process, and I personally hope for a good and successful conclusion," he emphasized.

Josipović said that the circumstances have changed and that unification on the left and center is imperative if they want to achieve anything in society.

The only 'non-negotiable condition' is that their members are appropriately incorporated into the party's work. This, he added, means that where they have strong local organizations, their members, together with SDP members, participate equally in membership, and where they do not have strong membership, they have no expectations.

Josipović pointed out that the key issue is not what individual members of Naprijed Hrvatska or SDP will gain or lose from a possible unification, but whether the consolidation on the left will help Croatia, social democracy, and the idea of social justice.

He said it is too early to say whether he is ready to be a presidential candidate again and believes that the entire left, and indeed the opposition, must ultimately unite around a candidate who has serious prospects of winning, but that it is too early to talk about who that is.

He expressed his conviction that all infrastructure and memberships will integrate very well into SDP if they complete the negotiations properly.

He assessed that Croatia has moved far to the right today, not only in state institutions but also as a society, and that it is time for the left hand to strengthen as well.