Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Josip Dabro has resigned ‘for moral reasons’ after a video surfaced of him shooting randomly from the window of a moving car while singing to loud music.
‘I hereby submit my irrevocable resignation,’ Dabro posted on Facebook, after trying to explain the clip, saying it was filmed years ago and that he was using training bullets.
The video, made public earlier this week, shows him sitting in the passenger seat of a moving car, singing to loud music and firing a pistol into the dark. Lights in the distance appear to show an inhabited area.
‘I am aware that these circumstances create an additional burden for the government and my party,’ he wrote in his resignation statement.
‘As a responsible man and public official, I believe that my personal situation must not distract attention from the key priorities of the government and the sector.’
He said that he filmed the video before he held any position in government and claimed that its airing was a political attack by a former friend-turned-rival.Â
The leader of his party, Ivan Penava, told a news conference the video ‘was private and was sent to people who Mr Dabro thought were his friends… At no point did he put anyone’s life in danger.’Â
The politician was seen in shocking video firing a gun from the window of a moving car
The clip resurfaced last week and appears to have been filmed during the summer
Dabro claimed the video was filmed years ago and said they were using training bullets
The deputy PM is a member of the hard-right party Homeland Movement
Josip Dabro (C) pictured on May 15, 2024
Dabro noted that he had sought to implement ‘changes’ within the farming, forestry and fishing ministry to introduce greater ‘transparency’, claiming he had faced ‘significant pressures and threats’ over plans to reform his department.
But he conceded that his actions were ‘the result of a moment of thoughtlessness’ in an apology before resigning.Â
Penava insisted the coalition remained ‘stable’.Â
Dabro is a leading member of the nationalist hard-right party Homeland Movement, in coalition with Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party.
Plenkovic’s office confirmed Dabro had been asked to resign on Friday night and would be dismissed from duties today.Â
The incident is the latest to trouble the cabinet of conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, whose health minister, Vili Bros, was dismissed in November to face a corruption probe.Â
The government said on Friday night his behaviour had been ‘inappropriate and irresponsible’.
Plenkovic’s HDZ party formed a coalition government in May 2024 with Dabro’s Homeland Movement, which holds nationalist, anti-immigration and anti-LGBT views and advocates banning abortion.
Zoran Milanovic was re-elected president of Croatia in a landslide victory on Monday, winning almost three-quarters of votes cast.