ZAGREB, 30 March, 2021 - MP Milorad Pupovac has accused President Zoran Milanović of dangerously spreading cultural racism, to which Milanović responded on Monday by saying that Pupovac was denouncing Croatia to Sarajevo and Belgrade media but kept quiet when it came to denouncing corruption in Croatia.
"President Milanović is belittling almost everyone who disagrees with him, from women, minority representatives, representatives of the gay population, representatives of the academic community, to neighbouring peoples and states," Pupovac told the radiosarajevo.ba web portal.
He said he was especially concerned about Milanović's "cultural racism speech which can be felt in communication towards Bosnia and Herzegovina (...) and Serbia."
"That's very, very dangerous," said the Serb minority MP and president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party, which is part of the ruling coalition. "We are peoples and states that still haven't healed the horrors of war we went through."
"The rhetoric of cultural racism towards peoples who are east of Croatia, and in that sense religiously, culturally or partly culturally different from the Croatian people or the Croatian state, is an act of verbal insulting and verbal humiliation."
That is not good for Croatia and its democracy, which is fragile, but it can't ben good for the Croats living in BiH or Serbia either, Pupovac said.
"And I'm quite sure it can't be good for the president either. Because if this continues, it won't reverberate only in Croatia and across the borders of the neighbouring states which are mentioned in his speeches with derogatory and frequently racist language, it will certainly spread wider."
Milanović urges Pupovac to do something for Croatia
Milanović responded in a Facebook post, writing that Pupovac "is raising his price on the international market again."
"As his currency loses value at home, he is spreading his constitutional concern for Croatia in the region via Sarajevo media. It's not news that, if necessary, he bargains for himself internationally as well."
Milanović said Pupovac was denouncing Croatia for Sarajevo media today and would probably do so for Belgrade media tomorrow.
He asked Pupovac when he intended "to denounce the corrupt work of the government you sit in" and urged him to "do something for your country" on that front.
For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.
