Croatian parties seek no-confidence vote over hazardous waste scandal

Opposition parties in Croatia on Tuesday demanded a no-confidence vote against the government over the thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste still unrecovered after years of illegal dumping.

Croatia's anti-corruption and organised crime office (USKOK) has been investigating 10 people and four companies since February 2025, after the discovery of around 35,000 tonnes of waste including electronic and medical equipment and plastics.

The suspects are accused of importing waste from Slovenia, Italy and Germany, as well as medical waste from Croatia, before illegally burying or dumping it in the Lika region.

Last week, USKOK published a report confirming that "soil contamination had occurred" and also spread beyond the dumping site.

President Zoran Milanovic called for an immediate clean-up in a Facebook post late Monday, saying "The soil of Lika is being poisoned with hazardous waste from European Union countries."

"The government can no longer hide behind procedures and public tenders because people's health is clearly at risk," he added.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, of the conservative HDZ party, responded Tuesday by calling an emergency meeting of his governing coalition, while urging people "not to succumb to panic and hysteria".

More than 30,000 tonnes of waste were buried and another 5,000 tonnes remained above ground, Plenkovic said.

But he said that drinking water was safe and that health authorities would publish test results daily.

Several opposition parties called for an emergency session of parliament and a no-confidence vote, including the social-democrat SDP, Milanovic's former party.

"Drinking water will be contaminated," said Zvonimir Troskot, a lawmaker with the centre-right Most party, calling it an "alarming environmental crisis".

A public tender is under way to remove the surface waste, Plenkovic said, but the buried material is harder to deal with because some of it is likely hazardous.

"Croatia has no facility capable of handling such waste," he said. "We have to find appropriate companies capable of disposing of it."

Parliament's environmental protection committee is due to meet on Friday in Gospic, the town near where most of the waste was found.

Its mayor, Darko Milinovic, on Tuesday called on "the whole of Croatia to unite around this issue", following recent protests by locals amid fears for public health.