"It is a private visit with official contacts," answered Kovač, only to be appended by Klisović: "Private with taxpayers' money. I believe it was changed on the fly"
Although the Office of the Croatian President claims Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is on an official visit to the United States of America, President of the Parliament Committee for Foreign Policy Miro Kovač (HDZ) defined the visit on Sunday morning for N1 television as a "private visit with official contacts." Deputy President of the same committee Joško Klisović (SDP) commented it is thus a private visit financed with taxpayers' money, Tportal published on January 8, 2017.
"Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović is in an official visit to the United States of America, joined by cabinet chief Natalija Hmelina. During her visit the President will hold meetings with representatives of the political and social life and the non-governmental sector. The President travelled on a regular commercial flight," the Office of the President stated for Tportal on last Wednesday.
Miro Kovač, former chief of diplomacy and Croatian ambassador to Germany, denies the definition set forth by the Office of the President. "It is not an official visit. There are many types of visits. It depends how you characterise it. There are degrees of diplomacy: private, working, official and state," explained Kovač.
Klisović then asked what type of visit are we talking about. "It is a private visit with official contacts," answered Kovač, only to be appended by Klisović: "Private with taxpayers' money. I believe it was changed on the fly. When the President realised the scandal she made, she began organising meetings to add a context of an official visit. The government was uninformed, her office did not know where she was going."
