Naša vlada ne samo da govori o okolišu, nego i mijenja stare zakone.

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Breakdown of Naša vlada ne samo da govori o okolišu, nego i mijenja stare zakone.

• star: old
• samo: only
• govoriti: to speak

Questions & Answers about Naša vlada ne samo da govori o okolišu, nego i mijenja stare zakone.

What is the structure ne samo da … nego i … doing here, and how does it work?

Ne samo da … nego i … is a fixed correlative structure meaning “not only … but also …” when it links whole clauses.

• ne samo da govori o okolišu
  = not only (that it) talks about the environment

• nego i mijenja stare zakone
  = but also (it) changes old laws

A rough breakdown:

• ne samo da → introduces the first clause
• nego (i) → introduces the contrasting/additional clause
• i after nego is optional but very common for emphasis (“but also”).

So the sentence contrasts what the government does in one way (talks) with what it also does in another way (changes laws).

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Could you say this without da? For example: Naša vlada ne samo govori o okolišu, nego i mijenja stare zakone?

With whole clauses, Croatian strongly prefers ne samo da … nego (i) ….

You can say:

• Naša vlada ne govori samo o okolišu, nego (govori) i o starim zakonima.

Here samo modifies govori, not the whole clause, and the pattern is different:

• ne + verb + samo X, nego i Y

But in your original sentence, you are contrasting two different actions:

• talks (about the environment)