ZAGREB, 5 April 2022 - Former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Tuesday would not give an answer when asked if she saw herself as the next NATO Secretary-General, saying the appointment should be based on qualifications and not on sex.

The moderator of a panel discussion at the US-Croatia Forum focusing on the representation of women in the security and economy sectors asked the former president if time had come for NATO to have a woman secretary-general and if she saw herself in that role.

"The next NATO Secretary-General must be chosen exclusively based on their work, education, ethics, competence, experience and all the other aspects we insist on when selecting someone for a position," she said.

"You have nothing to add?" the moderator asked.

"Nothing to add. We can discuss the women's quota, but that is an entirely different matter," said the former president, who some say is a potential successor to current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Grabar-Kitarović said earlier at the panel that NATO was the most women-friendly of all environments she had worked in, where she was treated "as a person, not as a woman."

She noted that it had been her experience so far that she had to use much more energy than her male colleagues to be taken seriously in the same posts, calling on media not to treat women in positions of power differently than their male colleagues and noting that her statements had on many occasions been taken out of context as well as that the media scene was often misogynistic and sexist.

When someone feels insulted on ethnic grounds, that is hate speech, but that is not the case when insults are based on a person's sex, she said.

"I'm far from being satisfied with the world we live in and am determined to work on a fairer society for all daughters, sisters and other women," she said, noting that education is the key.

ZAGREB, 11 Oct 2021 - Former Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović has been appointed as the Chair of the Future Host Commission for the Games of the Olympiad, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reported on its website on Monday.

A press release by the IOC notes that Grabar-Kitarović, an IOC member since 2020, will immediately replace former Chair Kristin Koster Aasen, who stood down following her election to the Executive Board (EB) because no EB member can serve on the Future Host Commissions.

"I am grateful for this opportunity to collaborate with potential hosts on Olympic projects, which will help them to achieve their long-term goals for development, public health, sports participation and inclusion. I would like to continue to build on the great work begun under Kristin's leadership. It is an exciting chance to develop innovative ways to steer the Olympic Games into the future and explore the challenges facing upcoming hosts, such as climate change," Grabar-Kitarović said.

IOC President Thomas Bach also commented on Grabar-Kitarović's appointment.

"The Future Host Commissions have an important role in shaping the future of the Olympic Movement. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović will bring rich and diverse skills and experience, including at the very highest levels of government and international relations. As a member of the same Commission, she has already contributed to the successful delivery of the first election under the new approach to choosing Olympic and Paralympic hosts, with the selection of Brisbane 2032," he added.

For more about politics in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, June 19, 2020 - Former president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has joined women who have shown their middle finger at statements about abortion made by Homeland Movement leader Miroslav Skoro and some other politicians, making an off the photo of herself with her middle finger extended.

"I am joining all women who with this 'indecent' act are showing their stand and raising their voice against those who are trying to take us centuries back," Grabar-Kitarovic told the Jutarnji List daily, to which she sent her photo.

The former president said the time was gone when men made decisions for women.

"I have always advocated life but I have also advocated a life that has the right to choose. Without pressure, without stigmatisation and without conditions, particularly in the most sensitive situations such as rape," Grabar-Kitarovic said, adding that she had shown her middle finger as a sign of support for "us women and our rights as well as for men who support us."

Grabar-Kitarovic's statement was one in a number of reactions prompted by Skoro's statement that "if a woman becomes pregnant after being raped, she should agree with her family what to do next."

Commenting on those reactions, Skoro said that his statements were being taken out of context because there was nothing he or the election candidates of the Homeland Movement could be reproached for.

Red Cross is running out of supplies, national buffer stock to be activated