ZAGREB, 12 January, 2022 - PM Andrej Plenković has said Milorad Pupovac was at a celebration of Bosnian Serb entity day as head of the Serb National Council and that parties that have criticised him for that should have done the same in the case of President Zoran Milanović's "love" for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik.
A number of Croatian political parties have condemned Pupovac's attendance at the ceremony in Banja Luka. Asked about that topic in Novska again on Wednesday, Plenković said that the Serb National Council (SNV), an umbrella association of ethnic Serbs in Croatia, had provided an explanation.
"He went there in his capacity as SNV president, not as a representative of the parliamentary majority, not to mention confabulations about him being a member of the government, or as a deputy in the Croatian parliament. That is a fact, his presence there was explained by the SNV itself. I will not and do not need to be anyone's interpreter," he said.
Pupovac is also the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and member of parliament.
Plenković dismissed interpretations about double standards, considering that in 2019 Croatia's Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivan Delvecchio, was recalled after attending the same event, adding that Pupovac "is not an ambassador".
Asked if in the case of events such as the marking of Republika Srpska Day one could separate Pupovac's position as a member of the parliamentary majority and that of SNV president, Plenković said that he would like to have seen the same uproar from political parties concerning "Milanović's love for Milorad Dodik."
"There was no such reaction a few weeks ago, quite the contrary. There should be no double standards in reactions," he said, and to a repeated remark from a reporter that one could not disregard the fact that Pupovac is a member of the parliamentary majority, he said that one should put the question to Pupovac.
"You should ask him, I will not interpret the SNV's positions," he said.
Commenting this past Monday on Pupovac's attendance at the Banja Luka ceremony, Plenković said that he was there only for the official ceremony in his capacity as president of the SNV, adding that "there has been significant support there to the post-earthquake reconstruction of Banovina", a reference to post-earthquake aid to Croatia's Sisak-Moslavina County provided by the Serb entity authorities.
"He neither made any speeches nor did he have any special role there," Plenković said then.
