Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Josip Dabro resigned from his post on Saturday. A leading member of the far-right Patriotic Movement (DP) party has announced his resignation as a result of a video of him shooting from a moving car that recently began circulating on the Internet. informs TASR based on a report by the AFP agency.
“I hereby tender my irrevocable resignation,” wrote 42-year-old Dabro in a post on the Facebook social network. He added that he decided to resign for “moral reasons” so as not to harm the government by distracting attention from its key priorities.
The video in question was published this week by the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List. Dabra captures him shooting into the darkness from a moving car. At the same time, he is sitting in the passenger seat, has loud music playing and sings to himself. Lights in the distance indicate it was near a populated area, writes AFP. The video was apparently shot in the summer, as the minister is wearing shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt.
“I realize that these circumstances are another burden for the government and my party,” wrote Dabro on the margin of the video also in a Saturday post on Facebook announcing his resignation. “My personal situation should not divert the attention of the government or the ministry (of agriculture) from their priorities or delay the necessary reforms,” he added.
Dabro, in his initial reaction to the said video on Friday, stated that it was filmed a few years ago. He also claimed that he only fired blanks. DP party leader Ivan Penava said that the coalition remains “stable”. He added that Dabro did not threaten anyone with his actions and allegedly sent the “private” video in question to people he considered his friends.
On Friday evening, the government described Dabra’s behavior as “inappropriate and irresponsible”. Its spokesperson stated that the department will be temporarily managed by State Secretary Tugomir Majdak until a new Minister of Agriculture is appointed, reports Croatian agency Hina.
A government coalition was formed in May 2024 by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovič and the Patriotic Movement (DP) party, which holds nationalist, anti-immigration or anti-LGBT views and promotes, for example, the ban on abortion. approximates AFP. This is not the first resignation within this new coalition, as the Minister of Health, Vili Beroš, was dismissed in November due to an investigation into allegations of corruption.
