Sunday’s finals at Wimbledon between Čilić and Federer brought together a large Croatian government delegation.
Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić, Interior Minister Davor Božinović and State Secretary for Sports Janica Kostelić spent a lovely Sunday at Wimbledon, where they attended the final match of the tennis tournament between Roger Federer and Marin Čilić. They decided to go to London at the last moment, and tickets were provided by the organiser, All England Club. The strong Croatian delegation went to London in the government's official plane, which was approved by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, reports Index.hr on 17 July 2017.
“The tickets for the final match were provided by the host, at no cost to the Croatian government. State delegations – representatives of the countries from which finalists come – receive their seats from the organiser’s protocol, without any compensation,” announced the Office of the Speaker of the Parliament.
Interestingly, Speaker Jandroković decided to take with him his son, who also attended the finals. “It is standard practice that highest state officials, including the Speaker of the Parliament, are allowed to take one close family member on official travel if that does not incur a cost for the state budget,” said the Office of the Speaker of the Parliament.
The delegation did not stay in London after the match. Given that Čilić lost the finals, there was no reason to celebrate anything, so the delegation did not incur any additional costs. “Except for the cost of transport by the official aircraft, which was approved by the government, there were no other expenses from the state budget for this official trip,” the Parliament argues. Jandroković's media advisor Jasna Vaniček Fila added that the Speaker did not even ask for per diems for this travel.
However, some additional costs will certainly have to be paid, because the delegation must have included security officers for the Speaker and the Interior Minister, as well as a representative from the State Protocol Service.
It is still not known how much the flight Zagreb-London-Zagreb cost.
At the finals, Switzerland was represented just by its President Doris Leuthard. Unlike the Croatian delegation, the Swiss one consisted of just one person.
