Ivo Sanader speaks to the German media.
Former Croatian Prime Minister and HDZ president Ivo Sanader gave a brief interview to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he repeated his assertions that he was innocent, reports Tportal on Jamuary 18, 2016.
FAZ correspondent Karl-Peter Schwarz met with Sanader in the office of his attorneys, where the former Croatian Prime Minister reads court documents and prepares for the trials which are underway. In the interview, Sanader claims that he resigned in 2009 after a seven-month struggle to lift the blockade of the negotiations process between the EU and Croatia, which was initiated by Slovenia. In order to revive the process of accession negotiations, Sanader claims that he used the so-called silent diplomacy. "I have talked with everyone, the German Chancellor, the French President, the Italian Prime Minister." Sanader says that in June 2009 he found out from Olli Rehn, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, that they supported the Slovenian request to have a link between Slovenian territorial waters and the open sea.
On 18 June, before a summit in Brussels, a meeting of the European People's Party was held, and Sanader explains what happened there: "They were all there: Merkel, Barroso, Sarkozy, Berlusconi, Juncker, Balkenende. I asked them to give Croatia a small positive signal, maybe open a new chapter in the negotiations or close some of those chapters which have already been negotiated, otherwise I would not be able to guarantee anything. But, nothing happened. After that, I resigned."
From today's perspective, Sanader believes that was a mistake. "Joining the EU had been my life project. I have overreacted." He appointed as his successor Jadranka Kosor, Deputy Prime Minister whom he trusted, but now he says that a man can make a mistake, adding that "even among the twelve apostles there was a traitor". Sanader became the honorary president of the party, but decided not to give any public statements because he wanted to give more space to his successor. He kept silent when Jadranka Kosor signed an agreement with then Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor, "which HDZ had previously vehemently rejected" and which, according to Sanader, could have resulted in Croatia losing some of its territorial waters. The arbitration process later collapsed due to Slovenian violations of procedure. "In the end, it all went well, but I have paid a high price", says Sanader.
Sanader returned to public life after the first round of the presidential elections in 2010. "'It was clear to me that we would be defeated at the next parliamentary elections. That is what happened." His press conference on 3 January 2010 resulted in his expulsion from the party. "Kosor has called the meeting of the party leadership and has said some serious threats. She was scared, because she knew that I always manage to achieve what I say I will", explains the former Croatian Prime Minister. The very same day Prime Minister Kosor called to her office Attorney General Mladen Bajić, who was near the end of his term of office. Sanader claims that Kosor said to Bajić that Sanader must be charged and to do whatever it takes. "He then started arresting people and threatened them that they have to accuse me if they do not want to go to prison for several years. Some of them complied and later their testimony was the basis for my indictment", says Sanader.
